


The Dawn Burns Brighter than the Day

by Buniko



Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: A Lot of Plot, Angst, Eric from The Boyz shows up, Foul Language, Han has light blue eyes that color change depending on his mood, Kingdoms, M/M, Plot, Royalty, WOO, War, Witches, battles, cool fights, here we go again, literally everyone but Han is a Witch, of course, seungmin is a hot headed tsundere, they're all 18 or over, uhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-06-08 05:15:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15236133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buniko/pseuds/Buniko
Summary: The three main kingdoms have been fighting for control for decades. Each one wishes to annihilate the others and rule over them all. Of course these kingdoms have their standard military, but the real power is unleashed by the Witches. Essentially, Witches are humans with powers and abilities that relate to what they are a Witch of. The kingdoms use the Witches as their main source of fighting power. Typically, it's just Witches v.s. Witches at least until the most wanted man alive gets involved; Han Jisung. He's not wanted for crimes although he's committed plenty, but instead for his powers. He's been dubbed "The Ultimate Weapon" and the kingdoms think that if they get him on their side, they will be able to destroy the ones whom they're against. Unfortunately for them, Han isn't interested in that at all. He's going against the kingdoms in a one-man rebellion. Infiltrating bases, battling Witches, collecting info, assassinations- all of it is a piece of Han's plan... at least until he gets captured.





	1. Dismal Remembrance to Spying into a New Operation

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, here's just a bit of background info to help ya get to know this world. The Witches pretty much action anime characters gone wild. All of them are 18 and older! The three main kingdoms and the other ones mentioned are parodies of the entertainment agencies in K-pop. The kings of the kingdoms are the CEO's of the k-pop company the place is a parody of. I tried to put the members in the area and give them the powers that would suit them best, but would also work with the story. Han is special and isn't a part of any of the kingdoms.  
> Han - The Ultimate Weapon  
> Kingdoms - Notable Witches that reside there:
> 
> Samataria-  
> Woojin: Witch of Electricity  
> Hyunjin: Witch of Demons  
> Seungmin: Witch of Alchemy  
> I.N.: Witch of Water  
> Jigoku-  
> Minho: Witch of Hellfire, arguably the most powerful Witch  
> Grratrude-  
> Chan: Witch of Elements  
> Changbin: Witch of Darkness  
> Felix: Witch of Light
> 
>  
> 
> Samataria=SM, Jigoku=JYP, Grratrude=YG  
> Also if you're looking for other Minsung fanfics you can check out my other *completed* fanfiction titled: At the Steps of the Sunset

          In the far outskirts of Jigoku, lied an abandoned building. Its shed-like features on the outside made it seem as if it was a regular structure. The thing was, it used to be an old torture facility, but it seemed that no one remembered about it anymore. The kingdoms had all made statements to the public that those kind of facilities weren't in use anymore. Although, it was pretty obvious that they would still continue such experiments just even deeper in secrecy within the walls of their precious palaces. The experiments to create the ultimate weapon. The ultimate weapon wasn't some kind of super missile to destroy the world. Instead, they were experimenting on humans to give them powers of absolute destruction while also destroying the thing that made them human: their emotions. Making it so they'd have no sympathy, a living killing machine, as they dubbed it. Most of the ones experimented on were killed in the process and even if they made it through if their results weren't what the experimenters wanted then they were killed too. Humans weren't the only species the government messed with. Witches also lived among the humans, but what was a witch?

          Simply, Witches were human-like in almost every way. Their personalities, the way they looked and acted all mimicked humans. Their difference was their abilities. They could just wave their hand to the side and have a weapon of their liking appear and could fly. Knives flying at their victims from thin air, snapping their fingers and having fire spark up anywhere in their vision, and some could summon demons from hell and send them after their victims. No one really knew how many Witches existed. Most stayed in hiding and lived their lives out as regular humans. Some were not that fortunate. If someone suspected of another as being a Witch they were "highly advised" to contact the government and let them know. It was seen as a honorable act for someone to do and could yield them massive rewards if the Witch was strong enough for the governments purposes. Many government officials went on the streets looking for any suspicious behavior to find Witches. Each of the kingdoms had one king that controlled with a cabinet of officials for military and other purposes. The people accepted the Witches as their leaders more than the Kings. The people looked up to them like idols due to their charismatic and equally unique personalities. The Witches did very well at hiding their dissatisfaction with their lives. 

          There were eight well known Witches due to their incredible abilities. The most powerful kingdom, Samataria, had four of them under their rule. The next, Grratrude, had three and the last of the big three, Jigoku, had one. Although the one in Jigoku, Minho the Witch of Hellfire, was arguably the most powerful Witch out of the eight. Some of them had been found due to traitorous "friends" that exposed them to the government. Some were born into it due to their parents being officials. Witches would be tested for their abilities starting from when they were ten years old and on. It was quite rare for a Witch to have the powers the governments were looking for. Most had little abilities of casting spells and other kinds of witchcraft that was also known as things that wouldn't _**kill**_ others. The ones that had the more suitable abilities were trained in warfare and were considered princes of the kingdom. They had a separate palace from the king they lived in together in their respected kingdoms. They had servants and military protection. The buildings were armed with missiles and artillery guns that servants were stationed at constantly. Although, that wouldn't do much to stop the attacker if it was a Witch. It was rare that the kingdoms fought each other military to military. Typically, it was Witch to Witch in life or death battles that usually destroyed most of the area they were fighting in. There hadn't been a major battle in a while until the escape of Samataria's most successful experiment: Han Jisung

          Three of the Witches of Samataria had went after him. He was quite hesitant to fight though. He dodged most of their shots for a while and made pleas with them to leave him alone. To let him escape. In the end, his pleas failed and he had to retaliate. Han had a specialty in using any kind of conventional weapon. Guns, knives, bombs, grenades, and swords were all his specialty. If he was a Witch he'd be the Witch of Artillery. His mind had been damaged greatly due to the chemicals injected in him during the experiments causing him to be partially insane. He vowed to himself he'd never go truly insane like the government wanted. That he'd never become their killing machine. Although during his fight with the Witches that had came after him, he left devastating wounds to them proving his strength. 

          After the first few days of the Samatarian military going after him, things settled down. Since then the governments had been planning more tactical approaches to capturing him. He's had a few run-ins with the Witches of other kingdoms too. His most notable fight was against Changbin the Witch of Darkness. The two destroyed over half of the kingdom of Sidelp due to it. They finally stopped when the Witch of Light, Felix, came. The blonde haired boy looked terrified when saw how battered up the two were. Han had found that shocking. Witches from Grratrude were known for their tough "who gives a fuck attitude" and not much caring was ever shown between them-at least not publicly. Felix had rushed over to Changbin who had been slammed into the side of a building. 

          "Changbin! Changbin!" Changbin shoved Felix to the side. 

          "If you're not gonna help me than get the hell on." 

          "No! You need to stop. This is going nowhere. Look how hurt you are... you're pushing yourself too far!"

          Han used Felix's distraction to get away. He could hear the sound of another building collapsing as he made his way out of the place. He wondered why Felix had came to stop them. Han knew that must've made Grratrude's king mad. If the Witches ever found Han, they were supposed to do whatever it took to capture him. Han was glad he was able to escape. He knew that if Felix would've joined in, he may have been done for. His stamina was deeply drained and he had been injured quite a bit. It was a miracle he was able to get away quickly. Sidelp may not have been apart of the big three, but they were higher up on the rankings of the kingdoms. They had decent military even without any Witches. 

          Nowadays where did Han stay? Oh, in that abandoned torture facility. The only thing that made that place look like it had life on the outside was a sign written in red letters that said "Welcome to My World". Inside, the place was purple, black and red themed. Han had an insane computer setup with four monitors and multiples servers that he worked on.  He had hacked into the each of the big three's databases and collects info from them daily. He also hacked into the camera of the palaces, so he could see what was happening there too. The thing was it didn't have audio meaning Han had no idea what anyone was saying except what he could lip read. He had a phone that he hacked to use the cell towers without having to pay for anything. Unfortunately, he didn't have a bed in the place. It was already risking for him to travel with the other stuff he stole and a bed would've been impractical to first of all steal and then somehow get to this building in the middle of a forest. Due to the getting things to the place struggle he didn't have a chair either. He'd grown very used to sleeping on the floor. The thing he did have a lot of was disguises. Tons of wigs, makeup and clothes that he'd never have gotten, but did so anyways just so he could go out into the world. His signature outfit was a long purple jacket with black and red splatters on it, a black silk shirt tucked into black leather pants with shiny black lace-up boots. It was the very thing he was wearing right then and he hated changing out of it. He hated that his whole situation was like this. He wished that he could've had a normal life. His parents had willingly let him be taken by the government for experimentation. He had came home from college for vacation when it happened. Han never got a real answer to why out of everyone in the world was that he was picked for experimentation. Perhaps it had something to do with his intellectual ability. He was always ranked high in his class and was in college finishing up his degrees for computer science, programming and information security. The stuff he needed to become a hacker. At least his skills still payed out to be useful for his current situation. 

          Han looked at the monitors that displayed the camera feed from the Samataria Witch Palace. It appeared that the Witches were all going into a meeting with the King. Han went over got a bag of popcorn, put it on a hot plate cause microwaves are overrated, and sat down leaning against the back wall waiting for the show to begin. 

\------Samataria Military Meeting Room-----

          The king, Lee Sooman, was sitting at the head of the table. The four Witches were side by side down the left side and four of the highest officials were on the right. 

          "How about we get on with this instead of you staring us down like we're the greatest disappointments since that Mark guy called your best man a foreign swagger on national television."

          "Seungmin. What have I told you about speaking out of turn?" Seungmin rolled his eyes and looked to the side. 

          "Still Mr. No-fun okay I was just checkin'"

          "I have called for this meeting today to discuss the next military actions. Since the fight between Changbin of Grratrude and Han, Han has laid quite low. He's known for putting on disguises. We should deploy more officials in the area and to other kingdoms to scout for him. That's certainly not all though." A couple of the officals pulled out a map of the surrounding area. Samataria took the northwest of the continent. Jigoku had the southwest and Grratrude was over past the both in the middle of the eastern side.  The smaller kingdoms were in between. "Grratrude has been practicing military exercises. They seem to be making advances taking over the Stara Kingdom. As you all know, Stara provides many resources and materials to us. We need to firm our ownership. Seungmin and Hyunjin-you two are going area as soon as possible. You're a good combo against the Witches there. You'll probably bump into one of their arrogant asses and can put him in his place." 

          "Will do, sir." Hyunjin said while bowing his head. Seungmin almost let out a chuckle at Hyunjin's formality. He just wanted to roll his eyes and walk away. He knew a part of this was just to get him out of the area due to his behavior. Sooman probably thought that he was the one needing to be put in place. Seungmin took a deep breath and bowed along with Hyunjin. There was no need to dig himself a deeper grave. 

          "Jigoku has intensified its relationship with Sidelp after the destruction of half of the area. It's only a matter of time till Jigoku takes the place over. It doesn't make sense for them to want so much area when they only have one Witch. They're just diluting their power. Not that they really had much. You four could take him down. Especially, with I.N being the Witch of an opposite element."

          "Then why haven't we done that already? You're describing it as if it's an easy thing to carry out." Seungmin stated. 

          "There are a lot of other factors. Grratrude will certainly get involved once they are notified of it. It'll be the perfect time for war. They'd love to capture Jigoku plus you four. Who knows when Han might make an appearance. If a vast amount or all of the Witches are in one area then he may have a plan to enact."

          "I don't think that's the case. He seems to not want to be in warfare at all. Although I wouldn't rule it out, I wouldn't use it as an excuse to hinder our advancements." Woojin, the leader of the four Witches, explained. 

          "Yes, that may be what it seems for now. Han's mental state is no where near normal. We all know that. He's a lose cannon ready to fire off at any moment. Who knows what opportunities he'll take. But that could end up working in our favor since the whole goal we've had since his escape is for him to be captured. Taking over Jigoku is something we need to be preparing for. Having four Witches makes the invasion much easier as all fronts can be covered. We can hit the palace from all sides. Minho would most likely escape the building and then the real fight would happen. Woojin and I.N would be the front line while Seungmin and Hyunjin would be the supports. What happens then would lie in your hands. The ideal scenario is to capture him. Although killing him seems more likely, that's not the real goal. In the fury of the battle that will be hard to remember. With that we can conclude this meeting. Those are our two main objectives: keeping Grratrude from taking over Stara and preparing to take over Jigoku."

           The Witches exited the room in a group heading down one of the maze-like hallways of the palace. 

          "That dumbass really thinks that we can take over Jigoku without killing that arrogant ass? And now me and Jinnie gotta go to Grratrude. That's just a recipe for hey lets have an unnecessary fight that won't result in anything. Damn he frustrates me." Seungmin said. 

          "Hey that's how we all feel. There's no use in being frustrated over something that can't be helped. No matter how many tears we could cry it wouldn't do anything. Things are changed by actions." Woojin stated. "Speaking about actions, you two need to be heading on to Grratrude."

          "Yeah come one Seungmin stop your gloating. We got bitches to fight." Seungmin smiled at Hyunjin. He knew how to put it in terms that'd make him feel better. The two parted ways with the others and turned down a hallway that lead to the exit.

          "Minnie..."

          "Don't call me that!" Seungmin gave Hyunjin a light smack on the arm.

          "Ahh I just wanted to say that you should try to keep your temper under control. You've been getting worse and worse lately." Seungmin pouted at the ground.

          "I know. I'm just get even more fed up with this every passing second. I wish we could just kill that bastard. But nooooo, we'd be shot at with tranquilizers before we could make a move and then tortured."

          "Yeah I saw them officials getting their guns ready. They were waiting for you to go off by the millisecond. That's what they're really trained in. The art of knowing what to do if a Witch goes against the King. The King's suit even looked thicker as if the bulletproof vest underneath was even more bulletproof." Seungmin shook his head in disgust.

          "Of course. That bastard is such a wimp. Whatever I'm just getting even more pissed off. To Grratrude we go." The two boys exited the door.

\-----Han's Shed-----

 _Okay so I have no idea at all what the hell actually happened, but that scene with the two Witches walking down that hallway together was hella gay looking. Oh, new theory time. Seungmin is a tsundere. A hot as hell headed one._   _He's got red hair for a reason._

          It appeared the other two went into a room with no cameras. Many of the training rooms didn't have cameras or if they did they weren't connected to the same server as the one's Han had gotten into. Really hacking into the camera system hadn't helped him much anyways due to the fact it didn't have audio.  _Damn it. I need to get in there and install microphones. This isn't getting me anywhere._ Han glanced over at the pile of his disguises. He knew there was an official uniform in there. He had a collection of microphones that he needed to install in the palaces of the big three. Of course that wasn't an easy task at all. There were always Witches at the palaces. Even in Jigoku, it was rare for Minho to come out of his abode, but now with two Witches out of the Samataria palace he would have a better chance of succeeding without getting caught. He had to take this chance when it was most leaned in his favor. He began preparing his outfit and makeup. He was going to be wearing a hat so no need for a wig. His hairstyle was pretty common anyways. Black and fluffy just how he liked it. He didn't have a hard time putting the makeup on a way to disfigure what his facial structure appeared to be. He had thought that maybe once the bastards give up finding him (aka never) he could be a makeup artist. It was certainly a lot easier and less stressful than hacking. It only took him about twenty minutes to get himself prepared. Now it was onto how to get there. Not too far away there was a free parking area that was used for festivals and other events that he had his motorcycle at. Driving it all the way back to his place was too risky even with the forest being extremely dense and maze-like. It was only a fifteen minute walk away so it wasn't that big of a deal. Han left his shed and started on his way.  _Operation: Microtaria, BEGIN!_

 _\-----Jigoku Witch Palace-----_

      One of Minho's servants opened the door to his masters room. "Sir..." He sighed as his master didn't respond. He seemed to be preoccupied with watching something on the computer. "What have you been so busy watching these days?"

          "That's none of your business. Now what do you want? Don't tell me you came to just ask me that."

          "Chan is here." A smile appeared on Minho's stern face. 

          "How fun. I hope he'll entertain me well."

          

       


	2. A Fight Here, Almost One There, and Confusion Inbetween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to show a bit of what's going on in all of the Kingdom's and to develop the characters' personalities and mention some previous events.

          Han rode his way to the gate of Samataria. There were officials stationed there that checked every person if they had the proper documentation to get into the kingdom. Of course someone could fake the paperwork or put on a disguise like Han did. The documents were hard to even get a hold of. The officials take them from the people before they get into the kingdom and file them in the human resources building. They also put a certified stamp onto it before the filing. Putting on a disguise was much easier. The line Han was in was horrendously slow. It seemed they were having trouble with one of the people. Thankfully, another lane was opened. As Han pulled up he could feel his heart race. He had only done this a few times. The most recent being over two months ago. Who knew if he needed some kind of special ID? What if his disguise wasn’t as good as he thought it to be? He knew that they would capture anyone who they deemed looked similar to Han just in case of it really being him.

          “Welcome back.” The official said. He bowed his head and opened the gate quickly. Han wanted to step on the gas, but that’d be way too suspicious. He painstakingly made his way in, heart throbbing with every foot passed. The city hadn’t changed much since his two month absence. He drove around wondering where the best place to park his motorcycle would be. He was stopped at a red light when he noticed what appeared to be Seungmin and Hyunjin walking down the sidewalk eating ice cream. He immediately looked back at the read ahead of him, but tuned in his ears as much as he could to listen in on what they were saying.

          “Ew do you see that one over there on the motorcycle? He’s especially ugly. What the heck is the King doing with people like that? He’s probably out to see if we’re completing our mission. Ugh! I hate them bastards.” The hot head said.

          “That’s so mean, but I get what you’re saying. We’ve procrastinated on this enough. You making me get ice cream. We should already be there by now…” His voice faded as the two walked away.

          _Mission, huh? Who cares where they’re going as long as it’s not here…wait, I do. Well if they were on a mission to get me than they completely failed and ended up unknowingly insulting me. I’d rather the latter any day than the former._ Han drove his way to the palace. He had two options on where he could park it there: on the outside of the gate or inside in the officials parking area. He decide that parking on the outside would be best in case of a worst scenario. It would be such a pain to have a bunch of rich people’s cars in the way of him trying to escape. After parking he walked over to the gate where an official was waiting. His heart was still racing from before and had only gotten faster. Fortunately, as the man recognized the outfit as one of his own he bowed his head and let Han in. Oh, how oblivious they were to the fact that there could be a traitor inside of their sect.

          Han analyzed the outside as he walked along the sidewalk to the main entrance. There were two large fountains on both sides of the walkway with cherry trees surrounding them. The palace, itself, faced the direction of the sunset. That must be such a lovely view to see every day. The palace mimicked the Winter Palace in Russia but instead of the outside being blue with white columns and gold accents it was light maroon with black columns and platinum accents. Han pulled out the key that he had stolen form an official a while back and opened the door. There was no one there in the immediate entrance. Good sign. The less people there were in there the better. Han didn’t have to worry about someone watching him through the security camera system due to the fact that no one was ever stationed there. Ironically, there was a camera inside that room and for as long as Han had monitored it he never only saw someone in there one time. It seemed as though they used that as more of a back up if there was a invader. Although there had never been a criminal inside the palace before except Han, himself. The rest were all caught before they got through the gate. The people knew that there was a horrible punishment for such a crime: Execution. The execution could be as cruel, elaborate or simple as the executioner wanted it. The King also partook in the decision making and viewing of the execution. Han wondered about how many executions the King has seen as he entered the first room: The Military Meeting Room. It was the most important place out of all the ones he had marked. He had a map of the floor plan incase he got lost, but with the way he spectated the place he already knew it quite well inside and out.

          As soon as he got into the room he jabbed his hand at the nearest wall and used the tool he had to inject the microphone inside. The tool automatically applied putty and buffed it to cover the hole in a matter of seconds. He went over to another wall in the room and put in another for good measure. He left that room and jabbed three into each third of the main hallway. There was usually a lot of traffic there, so who knows what he could hear from not only officials, but the Witches too. He went into another one of the meeting rooms and put one in there. That room was typically one that the officials used for meeting among themselves. As he made his way down the next hallway he heard some voices. When he got closer he was able to distinguish that it was only two. But who did they belong to? Han feared it to be the two Witches still inside, so he dove into a random empty room and waited for them to pass.

          “When was the last time you saw Han?”

          “Ahh it’s been quite a while. I had a run in with him four or so months ago. He was here in the Kingdom.” Han recognized this voice to belong to Woojin the Witch of Electricity. He assumed the other was the voice of I.N. the Witch of Water. He had never had an encounter with I.N. before and he didn’t want to change that today…or ever for that matter. The memories of his skirmish with Woojin revoked into his mind. He was there to finalize his hack into the servers to make him untraceable. An official had spotted him in the room and alarmed Woojin since he was the only Witch present in the palace at the time. The thing he liked about Woojin was instead of him being sadistic like the others he had encountered he was matter-of-fact. We either do this or we don’t. No dumb games. No stupid build up. It was either do or die. Obviously Han didn’t die, but he did sustain injuries to his legs. Due to the fact that Han didn’t have the ability to fly like a Witch could, limiting his mobility by making a pain out of his every step was a good game plan. Too bad for him Han was an expert at running away. All the adrenaline that the fight created within him numbed the pain long enough for him to get out. Han retuned his ears back to the conversation the two were having.

          “Why? What would he want to do here? Yeah, everyone wants him…but for all the wrong reasons.”

          “He was doing something with the servers. I’m not sure what though. There was no evidence of him tampering or changing files. He must’ve stole data and left the rest alone. Who knew he was decent with computers. That’s defiantly something I’ve had the officials look out for. Everyday they check the system for any signs of an unknown entity connecting to it.”

          “Ahh that would make sense. It would also make sense if he was here right now.” Han’s heart dropped and his eyes went wide. _No way…how? How could he figure out that I’m here…he hasn’t even seen me in person before much less seen me today._

“What? What do you mean?”

          “I can sense him. After his escape I had a private meeting with the King. He showed me a diagram of Han’s body composition. Due to the experiments he doesn’t have the average amount of water though out his body. Instead he has less. I can sense an entity with that sort of composition. He’s close.” There was no where for Han to hide in the room he was in. Going under the table was just not going to cut it for this situation. Even though it seemed like an earthquake was tearing his world down. He heard their footsteps get closer. Then they were there. Standing before him. “Well you’re quite ugly looking like that now aren’t ya?”

          “How nice for us to meet again in this humble abode.” Woojin said with a smile.

\-----Jigoku Meeting Room-----

          Minho walked into the room and shut all the servants out. Chan was already seated at the other side of the table. The table itself was over seven feet long leaving quite a bit of intimidating space between them.

          “I’m glad you accepted my request for this meeting.”

          “Well, you’re among the few that haven’t tried killing me. Is that going to change today?”

          “No, it shouldn’t.”

          “Good. That’s how it should be. It’s been quite a while since we last saw each other, hasn’t it? So lets get into this. Grratrude has been making advancements on Stara. Why?”

          “Stara came to us actually. It appears that Samataria isn’t holding up their end of the deal and they’ve been taking more than they should. I’ve been told that Samataria has took over some of Stara’s territory and threated them with ‘utter destruction’ if they did anything about it.” Chan pointed to the map hung up on the wall. “The western section that’s closest to Samataria. They’re annexing it.”

          “Ahh of course. Now are you just putting a backing behind Stara to keep those bastards from taking the place over or are you trying to take Stara for yourselves?”

          “Perhaps both? Stara appears to be financially unstable with a heavy reliance on Sama, but Sama isn’t funding them with the money that asked in exchange for the materials. The whole Kingdom is going to go bankrupt. If Grratrude was able to keep that from happening by making Stara a subsidiary of our kingdom then I feel Stara would accept that deal and cut off their ties with Samataria.”

          “And then the next war begins. Samataria isn’t going to just let you have their biggest resource provider.”

          “I realize that. But—“

          “BEEP BEEP BEEP” The alarm system blared on. The door to the room flew open and one of the servants rushed in.

          “Sir, it appears that Han has been found at the Samataria Witch Palace.”

          “He’s finally showed up again.”

          “Should we go there after him?”

          “We?” Minho snapped his head back to Chan. “What the hell do you mean we? That’s what this is really about, huh? You wanna be in cohorts with me. That way if Samataria comes after your ass you have backup. Of course, wanting to use me.” Minho looked at the servant. “You can leave. This is none of your business, once again. And Chan, you can leave too. Go rush to precious Han and try to grab him up. If you get him you won’t need me at all.” Minho let out a chuckle.

         “Minho… you should consider what I’ve said.”

          “Why? Are you implying that there’s someone who’s going to come after me soon? That I’m going to be the one needing the backup?” Chan looked at Minho sternly.

           “I _should_ get going now.” Chan walked out of the room.

           “Chan! Chan…” Minho kicked the chair into the wall. “Goddamn it!”

\-----Samataria Witch Palace-----

          Han bolted out of the room, but his efforts were to no avail. The two came rushing after him. I.N. set up a wall of tridents ahead of Han and Woojin electrified them making it impossible to pass through. Han got out a bomb launcher and shot it at a wall and ran through the hole. He shot it a few more times till he found his way to another hallway. Woojin ran up to him with his sword in hand. Yellow lighting bolts levitated around it. Han got out his own sword in defense. From behind Han, I.N. was shooting mini tridents at him. Han sensed them get closer and slammed himself into a wall to dodge them. He sliced at Woojin with his sword, but none were to his profit. He was back up against the wall as water rushed beneath him taking him off his feet. He let out a cry as he felt Woojin stab into his arm. He pulled out a gun and shot at his assailant causing him to back away in defense. He shot over at I.N. too, but the latter reflected the bullets with his trident. Han threw a grenade over at the two witches and ran. He pointed his bomb launcher at the floor and shoot threw. He needed to get to ground floor and here he was on the third floor. He fell threw the hole only to be surrounded by officials all pointing their guns at him.

           “Surrender Han.” One of them said.

           Han held his breath and threw a mustard gas bomb and ducked under the barrage of bullets. He got his sword out and cut through the officials in front of him. Han was disgusted at the sight of blood being all over him. Not only from his wound, but from other beings too. He still had another floor to get through till he was on the ground plane. He lurched back as he saw Woojin come through the ceiling in front of him. The Witch shot light bolts at him. He couldn’t use his weapons to reflect them since they were metal. They would just act like a lightening rod in his hands. Not a good plan. He threw a couple knives to the side to attract the electricity. Then he got out two assault rifles and fired off. Woojin flew up above the line of fire. The smoke made it difficult to see his exact position till he was diving down at Han. Han flipped backwards and used his rifles to block the Witch’s sword. Han sensed I.N. being somewhere behind him. He pushed Woojin away and shot where he had that sensing. There must’ve been some kind of poison on the sword Woojin stabbed him with as he could feel his body fatiguing. He shot over towards Woojin’s way and threw a grenade. He ran past Woojin in the opposite direction where I.N. was. His heart was pounding. He was out of breath and with a weakening body. He heard parts of the ceiling collapse behind him and in front. He tripped over a piece of debris allowing one of the Witches to catch up to him. The next thing he knew he was pinned to the ground by I.N. and was held at trident-point. Han looked into the Witch’s eyes. He just seemed to innocent to be doing this. Looks can deceive, but this seemed like more of a “If I wasn’t pressured to do this I wouldn’t” scenario. He wasn’t going to stab Han.

         “This isn’t right for you to do this. Those people—the officials, the king—they’re brainwashing you into being like this.” Han noticed the Witch’s hand start to lightly shake. “Let me go. I’m on your side.” Han, himself, didn’t really know what he meant by saying that, but anything was worth a shot. This one seemed as if he could be easily manipulated. Woojin was nowhere in sight. This was his only chance for some kind of plea to work. I.N. got up and backed away. Han was surprised his plea worked. He threw a smoke bomb and ran down the nearest stairs. Officials were everywhere shooting at him. This was the home stretch. He could make it. He threw grenade after grenade. The bastards were blown away easily and he was able to make it outside. He rushed to his motorcycle and floored it. He could barely drive the vehicle due to his arm injury, but all he need was the gas anyways. It was only a few minutes till he was out of the Kingdom entirely. People didn’t need to be checked by an official to leave the Kingdom and the gate to leave could be opened by anyone on the inside. Most of the officials had went to the palace, so he ended up not being involved in some kind of police chase. Juts one of many things Han considered a miracle for him.

           As soon as Han got to his place drank an antidote to counterattack the poison. He wrapped bandages around his wounds and fell to the floor out of fatigue.

\-----Grratrude Kingdom-----

          “Heyyy we’re finally here!” Seungmin said.

          “Yeah…after you made me buy you a teddy bear. A fricken **_teddy bear_**. You’re not that savage at all like you try to be.” Hyunjin crossed his arms.

           “Ah! How could you say that! Woojin is an actual teddy bear and here he’s the most savage out of all of us. You’re the one that’s last in the ranking.” Hyunjin rolled his eyes. Him and Seungmin constantly bickered over the dumbest and smallest of things, but by the end of the day Seungmin would be demanding to use him as a pillow.

         The two were walking up to the Grratrude Witch palace gate. At the highest point of the gate, Changbin the Witch of Darkness was sitting. Unamused, he looked down at them. He expected either Seungmin or Woojin to come by as they were the most outspoken of the four. He was surprised to see Hyunjin with Seungmin. Double trouble was here now. Hyunjin and him exchanged a small smile. Seungmin quickly noticed the gesture and felt his heart twinge. The hot head tried to get his mind off that speedily by roasting Changbin.

          “Okay so I see you’re trying to look all big and tough by being up there by that, but news flash being up higher makes you look shorter than you already are. It’s a miracle I have good vision otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see you from down here.”

          “I thought we made an agreement not to start a fight?”

          “Times change, Hyunjin.”

          “That was five minutes ago.”

          “Five minutes is a long time in war.” Changbin jumped down from where he was perched. Hyunjin pulled Seungmin back in case of an incoming attack. For a moment he thought Seungmin might have actually done enough to give Changbin a reason to go off.

          “Alright, what do want?” Changbin knew the answer to that already, but seeing how they would present it was the interesting part. Hyunjin put his hand over Seungmin’s mouth. The red-head had said enough already.

          “Okay so the King—our King, is all pissed off on what Grratrude is doing to Stara blah blah you guys better stop or we gotta have some dumb fight to put you in your place. Boom finished.”

          “Ahah, really? You need to put that dumbass in _his_ place. If he actually could figure out how to not be a greedy bastard then maybe he wouldn’t be the cause of all this drama and things could stay moderately peaceful.” Seungmin bit his lip. Changbin had a good point as much as he hated to ever admit that someone else was right. If it was just him and Changbin they’d be having a brawl. He could imagine the scenario in his head. _“Samataria is the most powerful kingdom there has ever been! You really think that you can take something away from it?! Stara is making up bullshit. We’re giving it everything it needs to thrive.”_ Hyunjin snapped his hand in front of Seungmin’s face.

           “Stop annihilating him in there.”

           “Look, you need to stop your advancements otherwise this petty talk we’re having now will escalate into the destruction of your precious kingdom. Don’t you remember how that fight we had in the past? Ironically we were in Stara at the time. And here Samataria had to pay for all those damages to the place that YOU caused. Our kingdom has provided adequate resources for Stara to thrive.” Seungmin pitched in.

           “Of course I remember that. I remember your body being slammed into that building and how blood sprayed out from you. You were so close to dying then, now weren’t ya?” Seungmin pulled out his classic weapon: a whip. Not the kinky kind. Instead, it mimicked a rose stalk with large thorns on it that were filled with poison. He was the only one that could touch it and not be hurt. Changbin got out his weapon too: a black scythe. Hyunjin grabbed Seungmin’s arm and gave him the “what the hell are you doing” look. “Oh let him go. If he wants to fight let him. That’s the real reason he’s here anyways. He wants revenge.” Seungmin lurched forward, but was held back by Hyunjin.

           “No! Don’t do this.” Hyunjin’s face was full of concern and plea.

           “Fine.” Seungmin dropped his whip and let it disappear. He snapped his head over to Changbin. “You better have fucking listened to what I’ve said. Stara is pulling bullshit and you need to get the fuck out of it. It’s pathetic for you to cause this. I will come after you.” Seungmin turned and stomped away. Jerking away from Hyunjin’s grip. A lot of the Witches’ confrontations with each other went like this. It’s either a brawl that’s stopped by another Witch or an almost brawl that is prevented by another Witch. Samataria and Grratrude each had that one non-violent seeming Witch. Samataria’s being Hyunjin and Grratrude’s being Felix. Hyunjin rushed over to walk with Seungmin not turning his head back at Changbin. Seungmin’s words had been the message they were supposed to deliver. Although the King was expecting a fight, hopefully this would be good enough. The focus needed to go onto capturing Jigoku.  


	3. Memories and Unfortunate Happenings

          As Han felt himself wake up, he instantly begged to go back to sleep. The soreness, the pain, and the fatigue was still all there, except worse. The adrenaline was gone. Nothing would block the pain now. Once he finally opened his eyes he looked over at the monitors. He stood up at the desk and turned on the microphones he had installed. Although he didn’t get as many in as he wanted, he considered the mission successful. The major rooms had been infiltrated. He felt relief as he could hear some sound coming from the microphones. It sounded like some servants were complaining about some stuff. He tuned his monitor to the feed of the complainers. The place got wrecked. There were holes in the ceiling everywhere. A few sections looked like it had collapsed entirely. Of course it was all stained with blood too. The place was maroon themed anyways. The blood fit right in.

           Han checked the other cameras, and found Woojin and Hyunjin together walking down one of the non-destroyed hallways.

          “I can’t believe that Seungmin didn’t kick Changbin’s ass. With his temper lately dang as soon as he saw him he must’ve been burning alive with anger.” Woojin said.

          “O he was, trust me. He was.”

          “Was it really the right thing to get in his way and stop him though?”

          “I think so, but of course that’s me. Everyone else seems to be pretty disappointed with it. I’ve heard some of the officials say that he should’ve kicked my ass for getting in the way. But none of these fights have gotten us anywhere. I mean just yesterday with you and I.N. going after Han. That was a nice flop. People in here need to get some brains and actually plan a tactical approach to this. Grratrude and the whole Stara thing shouldn’t be our top priority. Capturing Jigoku should be. We can’t have any of us Witches getting injured and postponing it.”

          Han was surprised when he heard that. _Capturing Jigoku? So that’s what they’re planning to do. Have all of them go there and probably kill Minho. Minho…I haven’t seen him in a very long time… Has it been a year already? The memory is still so clear…_

\-----One Year Ago: Jigoku Witch Palace-----

          “Don’t try to escape. If you listen to what I have to say I’ll let you go. Okay? The less of a scene you make the better it’ll be for both of us.” Han was chained by each limb to the wall in the dungeon of the palace. He had gone to Jigoku to do a bit of research when out of nowhere before Han could make a single move of retaliation he had been knocked out by who knows who. It could’ve been Minho, himself, that did it or one of his servants. Minho was the kind that would always do tasks by himself. The typical lone wolf. Although, Han saw him as more of a lone cat.

          “Fine.” Han relaxed his arms, but there was really no relaxing to be done when his arms are chained high above his head. Han had his head tilted to the side causing his hair to cover his eyes. He didn’t want to look at Minho’s sadistic face. He had the smile of the devil.

          “You should work with me, Han.” Han rolled his eyes. He heard this kind of spiel a thousand times. That was always how it started. “I won’t torture you.” Han jerked his head and looked at Minho eye to eye. Minho smiled. “I’d rather utilize what you have right now. Torturing you obviously hasn’t worked in getting you to be a killing machine or a empathyless robot. I’d rather we work in cohesion.” Han furrowed his eyebrows. Working with the enemy? How could he do such a thing? “Think about that. The most powerful Witch working _with_ the most powerful ‘human’. Us being a team…? How does that make you feel, Han?”

          “…you’re crazy…”

          “ Haha, I’ve been told that a lot. But you should actually think about my offer. Stop being such a hard head and think outside your box. I’m not friends with them bastards. I want them to be destroyed just as much as you do.” Minho went over to Han and started unlocking the chains. “That’s all I’m trying to say really. There’s not much more to it. I want you to work with me. Now why would I let you go? Why wouldn’t I force you to stay here?” Han stood up after the chains were removed. He looked at Minho attentively. He wanted the answers to those questions. Minho looked off to the side. “It’s not the right time. I don’t _need_ you at this moment, but the time will come. And if you don’t come willingly…” Minho looked in Han’s eyes. “I will take you. I don’t want to be like that.” His sadistic smiled was showing once again. “But I will, if it’s to have you…on my side.” Han was startled and fearful. Minho was contradicting himself. _I won’t torture you…I want to work in cohesion…If you don’t come willingly I will **take** you… What? What?!_

          “You’re quite interesting, Minho…I’ll keep that contradicting mess of words in my mind. Whether I really want to or not.” Han walked over to the door that looked like the exit and left.

          Han had remembered the whole thing even though at times he greatly wanted to forget it. It made him question everything he had thought until that point. The Witches and their governments were his greatest enemy. But when there was a Witch that hated the other ones “just like he did” that made him wonder if Minho was just saying that for leverage to get him on his side or if he meant it. He had heard quite a few spiels to get him on so-and-so’s side, and he had though that was going to be the same with Minho’s but obviously it wasn’t. He zoned back into what Woojin and Hyunjin were talking about.

           “—I get what you’re saying but the Grratrude thing is still an issue.” Woojin said.

          “No one will care about that at all if we can capture Jigoku. Instead everyone is gonna be bowing down to us. Grratrude well they wont do that but they’ll certainly back off of there doings for quite a while till they falsely believe it’s safe for them. Ha.” Hyunjin replied.

           “Those sound like Seungmin’s words.”

          “Hey that’s what happens when you’re stuck around him all day and night and every second somehow. Except right now…I’m a bit worried what he might be up to.”

          “Probably roughhousing with I.N. or giving him some brainwashing lecture. Or both. He’s manage to do that too. Ahh, it seems like I’m the only one a bit skeptical about Jigoku. Seungmin’s all in, you’re all in, I.N. will do whatever is asked of him so he’s in and then there’s me. Something just isn’t right with it. The timing, the way we’re gonna do it… I don’t know it’s something…”

          “Well, I’m nervous about it too. Battles are always nerve-racking. And having one with Minho…that’s the worst. He toys with people during battle. Mind games galore. And of course: So. Much. Fire. I want it done and over with. I mean… could he really beat all of us?”

          “…I wouldn’t rule it out. I really wouldn’t.”

          “Ahh, he’ll beat us if you don’t keep your confidence high. You should go train some. Get a feel for which method you wanna use to cut his head off.”

           _So they really are planning a full force 4vs1 attack. Grratrude annexing Stara is child’s play in comparison to that. Them greedy bastards just wanting more and more power. Minho won’t go down without making it the fight of the century actually the millennium.  What should **I** do?_

As if someone was waiting for that thought as his cue, the door to Han’s place burst open. Fear filled the deepest crevices of Han’s soul. He’d been found. This was it. He had no where to go to. No safe place. Nothing. He was in no shape to fight back. Shell shocked, he realized the one who came in was Minho. It appeared that he was alone as no other officials or servants came in. Han backed up to the farthest wall from Minho. He got out one of his machine guns and aimed it at Minho.

          Minho sighed. “You don’t need to be like that, Han. I know it’s been a while, but it seems like things are beginning to ramp up now. I know it all, Han. I’ve watched you.”

          “What the hell do you mean? Watched me?”

          “Han, I’ve known about this place for a very long time. I had cameras installed in here. Many of the wood boards this place is made of aren’t wood at all. They just imitate it. It’s actually one of those substances that items or beings inside can see the outside, but the outside cant see in. Inside the ‘wood’ is where the camera’s and microphones are.” Minho tilted his head to the side. “I know quite a lot about you, Han.” Han stood shocked. Everything he’s done in this place has been recorded and watched. Every word he ever spoke. Every action. Minho had seen it. Simply, Minho had been stalking him. How horrific.

          “Why?! Why?! If you knew about this place then shouldn’t that have been enough?! Why did you have to do that?” Minho was silent for a moment. His blank stare was devoid of all emotion. Han lowered his weapon.

         “I couldn’t afford to lose you. Essentially, I’ve had you in the palms of my hands this whole time since your initial escape. If you relocated, it would be near impossible to find you. Having cameras just made everything easier. I could know your plans. Where you were going. What you’d do there. Your methods to approach tasks. It just seemed so much more appealing to know everything I could know about you, then to just settle with a location of residence—that could change at any time.” Han looked around defeated. He was disgusted by what Minho had done. No matter how much logic he could use to explain it as being a good thing to do, it could never be seen that way in Han’s eyes. Eyes that were deep navy as of then. Another moment of silence passed before Han spoke. 

          “I have to go with you, don’t I?” Han laughed that sad laugh of defeat.

          “Well, it’d be dumb if I just barged in here to tell you I stalk you. Yeah you’re coming with me. You’re in no shape to go against me. I’d burn you alive in a heartbeat.” Minho went over to Han and handcuffed their wrists together.

          “Really? Doing _that_ is necessary?”

          “Your compliantness could easily be an act. I’m not taking any chances. Not after all I’ve done to get you.” The two walked outside to a black van and got into the back seat. There was a soundproof piece of plastic that blocked the front seats from hearing what was talked about in the back. Han looked at the shed in the distance. Would he ever be able to return? Minho quickly noticed and jerked their wrists. “There’s a much better place waiting for you at the palace. Ya know, a room that actually has a bed.” Han looked down at the floor. He couldn't care less for what was at the palace. His arm ached with pulses of pain due to his pounding heart. He felt like a criminal who had been found guilty. 

\-----

          The car ride there couldn’t be described as awkward. It was more of a subdued sadness. Han knew there wasn’t much he could do to get away. Making a  scene would’ve made his location known to others. Maybe this was the right thing: siding with Minho. It was quite obvious that Minho wasn’t liked b the others at all. But then there was Samataria’s plan to capture Jigoku. What would that mean for Han now that he was there? He stared at the ground in thought the whole ride. He noticed Minho peering over at him from time to time. Although the rest his face looked merciless his eyes gave it away. Pity and sorrow were evident. But why? Why would Minho feel that way. He had won. He had captured the grand prize. Had he been putting up a façade to keep his enemies afraid? Han was tempted to ask. But something made him bite down the words. It wasn’t the right moment.

          Once they got into the palace Minho uncuffed their wrists. “Don’t run away. It would be so cliché for you to make such an attempt. My servant here will give you a tour. Although, you probably don’t need one. I’ll dismiss myself to my room. You probably don’t want to see me due to all this, but you know very well of Samataria’s plans. I need you.” Minho walked away. His words were stern and steady with melancholy laced through. Once Minho was out of sight the servant introduced himself.

          “Welcome to the club. Name’s Eric. I’ll be your tour guide today. None of the windows are breakable so you can’t jump out and kill yourself. Trust me, I’ve checked. Not tried. CHecKeD. I’m essentially the main servant of the place. Not that there are many anyways. Minho is quite a lo ~~ser~~ -loner. Yeah loner. He doesn’t talk to us much at all. I think that last official meeting we had together was a month or two ago.” Eric started walking around and pointed a few room out. “Over to the left is the kitchen and there’s a dinning room next to it. Get food whenever ya want we don’t have formal meals here. Minho hates us all anyways. Just eat whenever. Down that hallway are a few surveillance rooms. There’s one for the cameras inside this Kingdom and the others are separated by the Kingdoms the cameras are located in. Minho isn’t cool like you so he doesn’t have cameras inside the palaces but instead all throughout the kingdoms. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Where’s the room that he stalked you in? Well, he did that in his bedroom cause it’s a private matter. I caught him doing it a few times. He claimed he was watching anime but I’m not that dumb. Most of the other servants here are. Oops I didn’t say that.” Han let out a laugh. Eric seemed like he had a decent personality. It was similar to his on terms of the overly sarcastic part. “Up these stairs and down the hall to your left you’ll find your room. Look its got a fun nameplate on it.”

          “Are you enjoying this?” Han interjected.

          “Partially, the more sarcastic I am the funnier it is. At least in my head.”

          “Well thanks for the ‘tour’”

          “You’re competent enough to find the rest on your own. Now I get to go happily check up on the loser err loner ahh those words are so similar so I’ll see ya.”

          “Wait, if he doesn’t like any of you guys then why do you check up on him?”

          “I feel it’s my duty to do so. Minho...he— I don’t know there’s just something with him.”

          “Loneliness?” Having that be the first word to come to his mind puzzled him. He looked around in confusion. It made sense for him to feel that way. It’s not like he has any other Witches in the same boat as him to hang around. Could that be a reason why he has been not torturing Han... saying he’s been nice would be an overstatement but he hasn’t actually done much to harm him physically. Mentally- well the whole existential crisis Han has had over him being stalked in the only place he felt halfway safe, had certainly bothered him. At this point there was nothing to be done about it. He was going to have to accept what has happened. Time to get acquainted with this new residence.

\-----Grratrude Witch Palace: Felix’s Quarters-----

          Felix sat at his cherrywood desk and reached for his diary. He had been writing his thoughts and experiences almost everyday for the past year. He thought it would be a good idea to archive such information about the current lifestyle and events. Perhaps it could be for future generations, but Felix’s initial idea was to save the memories to look back on ideally when he escapes the kingdom or isn’t forced to fight anymore. Either one would work for him. He hated seeing others get hurt. He couldn’t stand it. Due to that, he ended up being the one that stops and prevents battles rather than initiating them. He was very close to the other Witches: Chan and Changbin. Chan was the logical thinker of the trio. He focused on the tactical approaches and figuring out each peice of the multi-layered mess that the kingdoms had created. On the other hand there was Changbin. Blunt and unafraid to show his power and kick someone’s ass. Although he did have a soft side, it wasn’t ever shown much. The only one who’s actually seen it was Felix. And Felix thought of him as the embodiment of a black-pink concept. Black being the strong, don’t dare mess with him side, and pink being his soft side sprinkled with bits of kindness and playfulness. Whenever Changbin was upset for any reason, Felix was there for him. Changbin was the kind that really liked to hug someone for a long time. Aka hug Felix for a long time to make himself feel better. Felix loved hugging up on Changbin in any way. Skinship was a must. It had been scientifically proven that hugging leads to a reduction in stress hormones are releases the ‘happy’ chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin.  Although it was rare for them to even seem like friends to each other in public due to the whole image of the kingdom. Friendship was not even near the list of qualities to have and show to one another. As Felix collected his thoughts, he began writing.

         _Dear ---------_

 _Another day is coming to a close. Things have been ramping up lately. Tensions between the kingdoms are high. Much higher then they have been in a while. The King has been pushing us to take over Stara, but I don’t agree with such a notion. Changbinnie almost got into a fight with two Samataria Witches the other day because of it. Of course we haven’t done much else but being stuck in the dungeon to train. It’s boring doing that all the time. I’d rather hug on Changbin all day. :) We should focus on a uniting plan but no if you bring the word “unite” up around the king it’s torture time for you for having “treasonous” ideas_.

          Before Felix could write anymore, Changbin came into the room.

          “Could I talk to you for a moment. I have some important info.”

          “From—”

          “Yes from him.” The two moved over to the lounging area of the room. There were two chairs across from each other in front of a black, marble fireplace. To ones who weren’t used to the strong visuals, the fireplace would look a bit intimidating to be around. As if it was a weapon of its own. Once they got settled Changbin continued on. “I’ve heard that Samataria is planning an attack on Jigoku. All four Witches going after Minho.”

          “What? Really? That’s insane. What is provoking them to do that? Jigoku has laid low for months.”

          “Guess that bastards greed is getting to him. No fighting equals no opportunities to get more under his possession. Greedy prick. We should set up an attack on Samataria. We need to stop them completing taking over Stara and to get them to actually provide Stara with the resources that they claim they’ve been giving but haven’t. That can be the motive and then we can have at it.”

          “But where will that get us? Are we gonna try to kill one of their Witches?”

          “It could buy us sometime to capture Stara for our own.”

          “BEUBEBEBEPPP BEUBEBEPZZZPPP” Felix jumped, literally jumped from his seat as he heard the emergency alert tone go off on his phone. Changbin simply sat amused. Felix taped on the notification and it directed him to a breaking news broadcast.

          “Attention everyone! Attention everyone! This is breaking news. The King of Jigoku has been assassinated. I repeat, the King of Jigoku has been assassinated. We don’t have many details on this yet but we will be keeping you updated by the millisecond…”

         “No way…” Felix said. “With all the training the officials go through. You know all those special weapons that they have concealed with them at all times. How could…how could that happen? The King is constantly surrounded by officials…” Felix’s words trailed off in confusion and bewilderment, but Changbin had a smile growing on his face.

          “Minho knows. He knows about what Samataria is planning. That’s his warning to them. Doing something no one thought possible. Killing the King of the Kingdom who’s constantly protected with highly trained and specialized workers. That’s one _**hell**_ of a warning.”

 


	4. Alert? Someone is Caring?

          Han wasn’t long settled when he heard the alert on his phone go off and then Eric rushing back to his room. When Eric entered the two just stared at each other in confusion.

          “What was he thinking? What _is_ he thinking?” The shock of Eric’s face was as clear as the stars in the night sky without clouds. Obviously, in the course of however long Eric had been working under Minho, he had never seen him do such a drastic action.

          “Kidnapping me and now killing the King…those are two bold ass moves. But why? What is making him do those things right now, this moment, consecutively? Well…then again, he’s watched me. He knows what I know… and what I know is that Samataria is planning an attack on Jigoku.” Eric looked at Han attentively. This was something he’d never been though. At least not to this extent and severity. “Capturing me is so he won’t be killed or captured himself. I’ll have to fight with him… and killing the King could be his warning to Samataria. It’s like he’s saying ‘I have a lot more power than you think I do’. No one knows about me being here as always things about me are a secret, but his actions may be a hint to the other Kingdoms.” Han turned the TV on to the news broadcast and turned the volume up.

           “Attention everyone, the Witch of Jigoku, Lee Minho, is about to give a speech on this tragic event. Let’s listen in…” Minho’s face was stoic as he stood at the podium. His dark brown hair brushed to the side of his eyes revealing the darkness they held. Sinful, they looked. “I, Lee Minho, the Witch of Hellfire, am the sole ruler of Jigoku. The King is dead and that’s all there is to it. I am the one and only ruler now.” His eyes burned through the broadcast camera he was looking at—figurately. “Don’t mess with me. There will be hell to pay if you do.” With those words he turned and left ignoring the reports screams and shouts.

          “Well that was short….” Eric said. “You’d think he’d addressed the situation in a different manner. Then again it seems pretty obvious that he was the one that killed the King, so it’s not like he can be all sorrowful about his passing.”

          “I agree. It’d be pointless for him to be like that anyways. It would make the Kingdom look weak which is the exact opposite of what he’s trying to accomplish.”

          “I’m shocked that he’s done this. I know he hated the King but really going and killing him…was it really the right choice?”

          “It’s stupid that these Kingdoms have Kings anyways. The Witches are the ones that do everything. Now if it was really the right thing to do…that’s a bit harder to figure out. I’d say that yeah it was. But that’s coming form someone who hates these Kingdoms with a ‘burning’ passion. Having any high up person from these places die is a victory to me. How much about me do you know, Eric?”

          “You were an experiment of Samataria to create an ‘Ultimate Weapon’. You were tortured a bunch till you escaped from there and everyone has been all over you since.”

          “Ahh, I see. How specific of you to mention the being tortured part.”

          “Minho always mentions that when he talks about you. He’s always like ‘Well he’s been tortured. He’s had to go through so much. I don’t want him to have to go through that anymore.’ And so on… honestly, he seems to care about you. Care in what way, I don’t really know, but he cares somewhat, somehow.”

          “Care, huh?” Han shook his head to the side. “Why? What the hell makes him think and act the way he does?” The door to the room opened and Minho came in. He was unbothered by Han’s presence since he was expecting him, but once he saw Eric in there too his expression was something a little less than appalled.

          “What are _you_ doing in here?” His eyebrows furrowed with disgust.

          “Well, I need someone to talk to since you’re out killin’ Kings.”

          “You may be excused.” Minho’s tone was anything less than formal. It was his “nice” way of saying “Get the fuck out of here”. Eric sighed and left.

          “Do you care about me?” Han asked sharply. Minho’s eyes widened as he was caught off guard by such a question.

          “Well, of course I care about you.” Minho’s expression softened as he looked at Han. “I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t.”

          “How does bringing me here qualify as you caring for me? As far as I know you’re just an advanced stalker to kidnapper.”

          “Because there are a lot of things that you don’t know. You didn’t have cameras and microphones everywhere. Specifically Grratrude. They had found out about your whereabouts. They were going to capture you sometime this week most likely today or tomorrow. Instead they’ll just find the soulless remains of your place.”

          “Grratrude knew? How? How do you know?”

          “Ahh you love those questions, huh? Well, I have my own cameras stationed in Grratrude, not in the palace, but instead outside. They know it’s risky to talk about classified info anywhere really. You know what I can just play the tape for you. I still have it saved.” Minho went and sat down at the desk. His fingers moved as fast as lightning leading him to pull up the video and hook a TV cable into the computer so it would display there. “There it is. See for yourself.” Minho leaned back in the chair, eyes glued to Han’s face, watching each movement of it. The started with the three Witches in the courtyard of their palace.

          “The meeting with Minho was a bust—as always.” Chan said.

          “Well of course it was. I don’t get why you attempt to befriend that asshole. You knew it wasn’t gonna work yet you did it anyways. ” Changbin said.

          “I had hope. But whatever, when Samataria ambushes that bastard I can sit back and say ‘I told you so’. Plus, we have Han’s location. Now we’re gonna be able to get him within this next week and—"

          “The tables will turn, the pieces will all move in our favor.” Changbin interjected. With that Minho turned off the clip.

          “See.” Han stared off to the side. “Would you rather be taken by them or me? If you had the choice who would you have chosen?”

          “…” Han turned his head to look at Minho. 

          “You.” Minho smiled slightly. Han noticed that gesture and questioned it in his mind. _Is that the smile of evil or of…? What would the other option be? Happiness? Joy?_

          “I thought so. I don’t think they wouldn’t have been as torturous on you as Samataria would have been but they still would’ve done ‘things’ to you. At least I’m not like that. Sure you’ve only been here a few hours, but that isn’t going to change. I’m not the kind to fake you out with some beautiful façade to then betray you and hurt you.” It was hard for Han to think about Minho in a good light, but he had his points. That was for sure. He had been relatively suave in his manner towards Han. He certainly had a better demeaner than Han was expecting.

          “I’m glad you’re like that—to me…Now about you killing the King, so what the hell is with that?”

           “Ahh I knew this would come up eventually.” Minho sighed.

          “It should’ve been the first topic actually, but the thought of you caring about me irked me more somehow.” Minho chuckled a bit. He found it interesting that Han was thinking about if he cared for him or not and how it seemed to annoy him that he didn’t know.

          “So ya wanna know why. Well first of all I hated him. He always underestimated my power and was looking for someone to replace me. He even gave a try at training Eric some. Eric is actually a lot more powerful than the average servant or official. He’s kind of like those guys from action films that aren’t supposed to have super powers yet still do things that the average person can’t do. That’s him. Of course the King just thinks—well thought that I wasn’t good enough. Yet, there’s so much evidence proving that I’m the most powerful of the eight Witches like wow, great job King, you have such a brain. Initially, the King and I were to live in the same palace, but since he had such a disliking of me he had a separate one made. But that didn’t stop him from dictating every aspect of my life for many years.” Minho paused for a moment and sighed. “It seems I’ll have to really start at the beginning if you want the full picture. A used to be good friend of mine exposed me to the government when I was fourteen. For your reference, I’m twenty-five now.  They took me away from my home, my family, my friends, my everything… I haven’t seen any of them since. I don’t really want to now. All they did was use me for money. Cause of course turning a Witch in gives you tons of money. The more useful the Witch turns out to be the more you get and obviously I was very useful being the only Witch in Jigoku. They trained me to death for years. It was only in the past five years that I’ve gotten more freedom. Now did they torture me? Experiment on me? Yes, they did. It’s a standard for them to do such a thing. Due to that, it washes out the impact of saying ‘I’ve been tortured’ since that’s the case for most Witches. We’ve all had it rough. That’s really the only thing that ties us together: the horrible treatment we get and have gone through.” Minho noticed Han rubbing on the wound on his arm. It seemed to be bothering him quite a bit due to the throbbing pain. “I have medicine that you can take that will help the pain.” Han looked at Minho surprised. He didn’t even think Minho would notice him touching at it during his long spiel.

          “Oh, really?” Han’s eyes were a medium blue and lightening by the minute. A part of him was glad Minho could help him. A part of him wanted to tear each of Minho’s actions down and find an evil flaw within. Minho quickly left the room and to fetch the medicine. Han reflected on what Minho had said so far. _He’s been under their control for so long. Especially in comparison to me. I was captured when I was eighteen and was there for a bit less than four years till my escape…No wonder he acts the way he does…_

          Han’s eyes went wide as he saw Minho come back into the room holding a needle. “Yes, I know exactly what you’re thinking. Needles are a horrific sight to someone who’s been through what you have. But I swear this one is to help you. It’ll get rid of any infections and numb the pain, okay?” Han looked at him with a slight scowl. Minho sat down next to Han. He had the needle in one hand and he grabbed onto Han’s wrist with the other. He knew Han would wince back when he felt the needle and he did. He held onto his wrist tightly till he was done. “There all done~” He threw the needle away and sat down at the chair by the desk. Han was sitting on the edge of the bed on the end facing the TV. Minho would’ve stayed sitting next to him, but he knew that made Han feel uncomfortable. He continued on with his story: “It’s been lonely being the only Witch here. The other Kingdoms have a bunch of Witches but then there’s me…just me…but, at least I have you now. That makes me feel a bit better. So…simply put the King has hated me since my capture and all he’s done recently is get in my way. His plans were always different from mine. He was always on the brink of starting war with his ideas. There was really no point in him being alive. He didn’t do anything but make my life living _hell_ ironically since I’m the Witch of _hell_ fire. And of course I did it as a demonstration of my power. The other kingdoms have probably figured that out and if they haven’t then they’re complete imbeciles. It may postpone their plans and give us some time to prepare. It probably wont stop their plans since they’re greedy bastards but it was worth doing no matter the results. He’s dead now and I’m glad. It’s as simple as that.” Minho stood up from his seat. “I’ve occupied quite a bit of your time today. I’ll let you have your piece of solitude. I know you don’t like me that much anyways. A cruel killer, aren’t I?” Without waiting for a response, Minho left with those words. 

       “No, I don’t think of you like _that_ , Minho…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments and Kudos! I appreciate them very much!


	5. Mutual Worry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH I'm really sorry it's taken so long for me to post this chapter. I had a double ear infection for a week and then...there's school.........it's been stressful already. I'll try to update as I can but ya'll know how it is when school's in session.

         -------

          Felix burst into Han’s shed. Changbin right by his side for support and Chan was a bit further away as back up. Yet to all of their surprise, Han was nowhere to be seen. “Really?” Felix said as disappointment filled the atmosphere. Their eyes searched the room in a second. There weren’t many places that someone could actually hide.

          “Fucking hell…Chan get your ass over here he isn’t even here.” Changbin said. The trio stood together in moderate misery. They had planned on capturing Han and using him after Samataria attacks Jigoku. It was most likely that Samataria would capture Minho and not kill him. Due to that, Grratrude had been planning to capture Minho from them for their own using Han’s knowledge of the inside of the Samataria Palace and obviously his fighting power too.

          “Oh well, time to go home.” Chan turned around and started walking away.

          “Oi! You can’t just do that!” Felix grabbed onto Chan’s arm and pulled him back over.

          “I. Haven’t. Slept. In. Thirty-eight. Hours. I’ve been planning this crap out for weeks just to come here and he’s not here. What the hell? Where did he go? Samataria is full of noisy, braggy fucks so we all know they don’t have him. Jigoku…with fricken king killer Minho? Maybe? Who the hell knows at this point. I’m just ready to smash my face into the nearest wall.” Despite Chan’s will to do anything being destroyed, the three went inside and surveyed the area.

          “OMG HE HAS PLUSHIES!” Felix was livid for plushies. He needed them to be able to stay alive. The other two sighed. They were looking for steal-worthy data, not plushies. Felix ran over to the plushy area and dived in. Chan and Changbin looked at each other. They knew he was a lost cause.

\-----Minho’s Room: Jigoku Witch Palace-----

          Minho sat at his desk amused by the sight he was watching unfold. Three idiots aimlessly searching for something to make their mission not a failure. Well, more like just two of them were doing that. The third was in an abyss of stuffed animals. Why would they even bring someone like him along? He was weak, in more ways than one, when it came to actually fighting. Too much sympathy.

          Minho chuckled as he watched them move around like someone without a flashlight stuck in the dark. One of them tried to get on the computer, but Minho had Eric go by and take all the data off of it and set it so the screen only display one message that stated: There’s nothing for pathetic souls like you here. The wise words of Minho. Pathetic was his “go to” word. It always left an impact on the ones it was said to. Them three were pathetic at this point. Here Chan had tried to get him under his belt with that meeting. As if he wasn’t smart enough to know what was really going on. He acknowledged Chan’s dedication and effort that he put into his work to plan and tacticalize it. It was too bad that things never worked out for him. Just like now. A plan to 3v1 Han to capture him. Now it was just 3v0. Not even a fight. Just looming disappointment and more work to be done. Once they were gone either he or Eric would go back there and grab those plushies. Han loved hugging up on them. They were really the only comfort items he had. Minho’s heart was intertwined with strings of guilt for what he’s done to Han even though in comparison to others he was low on the list of damage caused. He just wanted Han to be at least a little happy here. Han was all he had.

\-----Han’s Room-----

          Han laid in his bed sound asleep. It was the first time he had rested in a bed in years. The softness, the warmness…both he missed profoundly. It was much more comfortable than the floor he had slept on for so long. Even before then when he was captured in Samataria, they didn’t let him sleep on a bed. He was always in the torture chamber. The floor there was even more uncomfortable. Plus, he always had some kind of chains attached to him which restricted his movement. At least in the palace could finally be “bedtime” for Han.

           Until he was awoken by the door to his rooming opening. He kept his eyes closed and faked being asleep. He heard the steps of two people walking in. A few whispers along with them. “Where are we gonna put these things? I can’t believe there’s soooo many.” It was the voice of Eric.

          “Ahhhh lets just throw them in that corner over there. He can figure out something to do with them.” Minho responded. Han was lost as to what they were talking about. His drowsiness certainly didn’t let him think too clearly. His heart started beating faster as he heard footsteps approach the side of his bed. He felt someone slide a stuffed animal in between his arms. He knew it was Minho. He could feel his eyes staring down at him. He then felt Minho brush a piece of hair that was covering his face to the side.

          “What are you doing over there?” Eric asked.

          “He just…looks so peaceful…”

          “Peaceful, huh?” Eric’s footsteps left the room. After a few moments of Minho staring—well observing Han sleep—he followed. Han waited till he heard the door firmly shut to open his eyes and look around. He sat up and looked at the plushie Minho had placed in his arms. It was his favorite one. Of course, Minho would know that. Han turned his head to the side and looked at the pile of stuffed animals that were thrown in the corner. They really did bring all the ones from his shed. A soft smile arose on his face. _Minho…being caring? More likely than you’d think…or so it seems._ He turned and fell back onto his pillow and went back to sleep.

\-----Samataria Witch Palace: Witches Only Meeting Room-----

          “Ahhhhhh why do we gotta do this?” Seungmin put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “We get it Minho’s out killin’ the King blah blah.”

          “It’s a lot more than that, Seungmin.” Woojin wasn’t amused by Seungmin’s noncaring attitude.

          “What, did he kill two Kings? Omg it’s Armageddon we’re all gonna die ahhh” Hyunjin nudged his elbow at Seungmin and gave him the “you better stop before he actually kills you” look. Seungmin lowered his arms from behind his head back to the table and assumed a more proper posture for the situation.

          “Minho’s actions are a bad sign for us. Our own King will most likely be more strict with us. The last thing he wants are the Witches teaming up behind his back. Of course we know that’s not the case but for him it’s a possibility. The Witches coming together to overthrow the governments. Honestly, it’s not a bad idea.”

          “Too bad we all hate each other.” Seungmin interjected.

          “Exactly. If we could just work with each other everything would be a lot easier. The other Witches probably aren’t as bad as they’re made out to be. It just because of the circumstances they appear to be unlikeable. The governments are the ones behind their actions anyways. Most of it isn’t their  doing.” I.N. said.

          “That’s a good point. Too bad the others either don’t realize that or do realize it, but due to the government control of them they can’t do much to change it. Back to Minho though…”

          “Just cause he’s done what he’s done that doesn’t mean our King is suddenly going to say to us ‘Hey you know what, Minho’s a psycho. Let’s not send you guys there’. That’s not gonna happen. We’re gonna die. He’s probably going to make a cemetery of all his enemies right on the palace lawn. His King being #1 and the rest of us will follow. ” Seungmin said.

          “It’s not time to lose you will to live.” Hyunjin said.

          “Hey, I haven’t lost it. I’m just in the process of losing it. Once Minho’s standing over me with some fiery sword is when it’ll be completely gone.”

          “Let’s try to have a better mindset than that…even though the bad omens are everywhere. How are we really supposed to prepare? And why would Minho feel the need to kill the King? It’s just him there. He doesn’t have a pact of other Witches to work with.” Woojin said.

          “All of this just makes my head hurt. How to get a migraine one o one.” I.N. said.

          “Truth. I think I have one right now. Aahhh, maybe Minho just got bored and saw an opportunity and took it. I don’t know. The King was probably getting in his way of whatever he wanted to do, so he killed him to get him out of the way. That’s the most logical way to think about it. I don’t think he’d do it just to have some kind of flash of power to other Kingdoms otherwise he’d do these things more often.” Hyunjin stated.

          “I agree—”

          “Well of course you agree with Hyunjin.” I.N. teased at Seungmin with a smile. Seungmin stuck his tongue out at him in response. No need to use words at such an unintellectual person.

          “As I was saying, Hyunjin is right and we should all go to sleep now. Meeting adjourned.” It was nighttime for them as well. They were stuck doing even more practices and training than usual. Not that they would actually help them. At this point they were already skilled fighters. They actually needed to fight the enemy to pick up on his weak points and target at them. But of course, that’s what they all dreaded. Perhaps in the heat of battle their adrenaline will take over and their fears will be erased. Or they may be met with an unexpected occurrence.

\-----One Day Left-----

 -

\-----Han’s Room-----

          Han drearily looked at his phone for the time. 8am it was. He sighed and rolled over. He could just sleep all day at this point. He thought of himself as being a little bit protected in the palace since Minho was there. Getting real sleep might be possible. His first night of sleep went quite well except for the minor interruption. Thankfully, that had gave him a speck of happiness in comparison to the interruptions at this shed that gave him heart attacks. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he was dauntingly hungry. He hadn’t ate since god knows when. He ended up ignoring it and closed his eyes. Just before he had fallen back into slumber, the door to his room opened. _Oh let it be Eric. Let it be anyone but Minho._ Han rolled over to face the door. It was Minho. _Goddammit. Why doesn’t life work with me?_ Wearily, Han sat up with disappointment. His hair was a mess. His clothes were wrinkled. The last thing he wanted was Minho struttin’ in. Then again, was Minho really all that bad?

          “Ahh, you look at me with such a disgusted look. You don’t need to be like that~” There was a hint of playfulness in his tone. Unusual? Very.

          “What do you want? Why doe you have to come in here so early? Would you have woken me up if I was asleep?” With each question Han tilted his head side to side. A tad bit overdramatic, but it seemed as though that was the mood of the morning.

          “I just…wanted to talk with you… Would you like to have breakfast with me? A table for two is waiting.” Minho’s words were a tad bit shaky. Nervous of rejection so it seemed.

          “Yeah, that’s fine.” Han followed Minho down to the unformal dinning area. The space was still elaborate in appearance despite the name. The intense shades of red with accents of gold covered wall and object. It made the atmosphere heavy and tense. Minho looked back to see if Han was indeed following him. His soft smile and eye contact with Han managed to make Han feel a tad bit more comfortable. The two sat at black rectangular table. It was a sore thumb amongst all the red items. Eric came out with plates of food. It had been so long since Han had ate a real breakfast—or breakfast at all. Eric and Han made eye contact and Eric mouthed to him “good luck”. Han looked down at his plate, stuffed with goods, and felt at sense of gratefulness. “Thank you for this.”

          “Of course, I’d treat you any day. Even though Armageddon is on its way, we might as well have at least a day of enjoyment? Comfort? Ahh something like that.” Han nodded to Minho’s words. Not that he was fully listening to them cause stuffing his face with food was absolutely more important. Minho recognized this and paused his talking for a moment. The silence between the two wasn’t that of awkwardness or suspicion, but of the silence between two friends when occupied with their own activates,  yet still within each other’s presence. Some say that if someone feels forced to fill the void with conversation then they are not truly friends with the person they feel the need to do that with. Of course, Minho and Han couldn’t be called friends at this point. This was a step towards that though.. If Han wanted it to be. It was obvious to Han that “friendship” was what Minho planned for down the line, but only if Han allowed it.

          “Do you think we’re going to die when they ambush us?” Han broke the silence suddenly.

          “No, I don’t think _that_ will happen. Being injured though, that’s the given.”

          “What if they capture me?” Melancholy struck Han’s face. He couldn’t help but worry about such things.

          “That won’t happen.” Minho’s eyes were dark and serious—a tad sadistic too. “The only place you’ll be is here—with me.” His expression softened. “I mean, I’m not trying to keep you locked in here like Rapunzel, but it just isn’t safe for you to go out. Once everyone knows you’re here they’ll be looking for ways to get you. Of course I don’t like being in here all the time either, so I’ll be by your side. Where ever you want to go, I’ll try to take you there.”

          “If we survive.”

          “It’s not ‘if”. It’s more of a ‘how well’ we survive.”

\-----Samataria: Seungmin’s Room-----

          Seungmin sat at his desk analyzing the map of the Jigoku Witch palace. Each feature of it was engraved in his mind. The officials had been ruthless with the four of them this week. He was pretty sure the other three were still doing some kind of training. A part of him was glad that the officials hated him and would send him off, but another section of him hated it. Them despising him so much lead him to being treated rougher than the rest. He also noticed that they’d treat Hyunjin worse too. They had to hit him where it actually hurt. He remembered the times he went into Hyunjin’s room crying so hard from guilt. Thinking that the way he acted had hurt Hyunjin—in more ways than one. Fortunately, Hyunjin was never upset with him. Instead, he would comfort him. Wrapping his arms around Seungmin tightly just as Seungmin did to him. A long string of ‘I’m sorrys’ coming from the red head and followed by Hyunijn’s constant ‘it’s okays’. Seungmin felt sorrow for the way he was, but it was who he was. A hot head red head As cliché as it sounded, it fit him.

          Seungmin, lost in heavy thoughts, didn’t even realize that Hyunjin had came into his room. Once Seungmin finally looked up from his papers he was startled by Hyunjin’s presence.

          “I can’t believe—well, I mean, I can, but it’s insane that they worked you guys so hard and tomorrow’s ‘The Big Day’.” Hyunjin saw the tired sorrow in Seungmin’s face. He went over and wrapped his arms around him and draped his head over his shoulder.

          “It’s fine as long as I can come be with you afterwards. By the way, I’m sleeping in here tonight.”

         “Ah, of course, yeah I’d want you to anyways…” Tiredness somehow equaled the ability to be easily flustered when it came to Seungmin. “Jinnie…let’s go lay down right now. I know, I know you’re all dirty and crap. I don’t care. I’m tired. I want to just be with you. ” A smile showed up on Hyunjin’s face.

          “I was hoping you’d say that.”

\-----Grratrude: Changbin's Room----

          Dimly lit by a couple of candles, the outlines of the black walls and black and white furniture could be seen. The epitome of darkness was what the room was and Changbin’s soul was the embodiment of it. At least, that’s what it feigned being. Felix entered into it cautiously. He wasn’t sure if Changbin would be approving of him coming in at such a late hour. He had wanted to talk with Changbin about a few things, but he was willing to wait if needed.

          Illuminated by the light of his laptop, Changbin sat at his desk. He turned his head and nodded at Felix for him to come over. “What are you working on so late?” Felix asked. Worry was laden in his voice. He hated seeing Chan and him overwork themselves. Then again, it wasn’t like the King gave them much guidance. He would hide out from them for months at a time to then suddenly come out with a bunch of orders and plans that he had decided on without their opinions. Simply, he was a horrible King.

          “Military battle plan. Yeah,  Mr. Dumbass is getting even more greedy than before so he wants to do an invasion of Stara. Chan is working on the plan for the first wave of troops and I’m doing the second. The first wave’s goal is to get Stara’s troops distracted while the second wave goes in after the government officials and demand them to surrender or ,ya know, die.” Changbin pointed to a few places on the map. “There has to be troops going to all the buildings since they all have important officials within them. Due to the layout of the Kingdom, we have to attack from the East and West rather then North or South. But we still the troops in the north and south so ahhh it gets so complex.”

          “Why didn’t they tell me about this?” Felix sighed. It was pointless for him to ask such a  question since he knew the answer already, They thought of him as too weak and too unintellectual. He didn’t have the brains or the guts to do the gutsy tasks they wanted.  “Why do they even keep me here when they neglect me so much? It doesn’t make sense. Is it just to brag about having three Witches?”

          “Probably. That’s how he is. But hey, at least you don’t have to do this crap.”

          “I hate seeing you do this crap though. I hate seeing Chan work himself to over-exhaustion.”

          “I know. It’s dumb, but it’s what we have to do. What we gotta go through. I’ll just wrap this up for tonight. Who knows when we’ll actually put this plan in action. He never specified that. I’d assume sometime soon after Samataria’s attack on Jigoku due to the fact that Samataria’s Witches will be fatigued and most likely injured from the fight. Perfect time to go invade somewhere and cause more drama—and another war at this rate.” Changbin paused for a moment as he finished writing some of the lines for the attack plan. Afterwards, he turned his chair to face Felix who was standing beside him. “Was there something you wanted to talk to me about? I was a bit surprised when you came in here since it’s so late. You should be asleep by now.” Changbin felt perturbed due to the lack of the classical enthusiasm Felix usually had.

          “Yeah I wanted to ask you a question or two…I want your absolute honest opinion, okay?” Changbin nodded and Felix pulled out the other chair by the desk and sat down on the edge of the seat. . “Do you think…that I’m worthy of my position here. As in, should I even be a ‘Witch’ I could probably tell the King that I want to go on ‘leave’ and he wouldn’t even care as long as he can still use my existence as something that others should fear. “

          “Felix… I think of you as being quite valuable to us. Especially to me…You’ve kept me out of  some inauspicious situations. You always support us. Plus, you do fight too. Although not as much, but you still do and you’re a precious piece that without you we wouldn’t be nearly as strong. Whether it be strong physically, mentally, figuratively, anyway you could use it, it wouldn’t have the same strength without you.”

          “You really think that?”

          “Why would someone like me say something that I don’t think or believe in? Of course that’s how I feel, Felix. Chan feels the same way too. He’d have said the same words.”

          “Thank you…”

          “Another thing—really the most important thing. There cant be darkness without light. There can’t be light without darkness.”

          “I need you and you need me…?”

          “Always.” Changbin went over and hugged Felix. He knew all the training Felix had been doing to improve himself. He knew that he was overworking himself just as bad as the rest of them. Moments of vulnerability and the needing of reassurance would continue to sprout. It was a law of nature to question and doubt the efforts that have been made, if what’s been done has actually been useful and if it’s truly needed. “Even if you were a person that did nothing, I’d still want you here with us. Just your presence makes this bullshit more tolerable.”

          “Thank you. Thank you so much, Binnie.”

\-----Zero Days Left-----


	6. Blazing Hearts

          Minho stood on the balcony overlooking the sunrise. Dawn was amidst. Red sky in morning, Sailor’s warning. The sky was fired up with splashes of red and orange. It was clearly evident as to what it was signaling to. Not bad weather like most would say, but instead the attack from Samataria. He thought about how worried Han looked after the conversation they had before they attempted to go to sleep. Minho sure didn’t sleep. He knew Han didn’t either. Although Han was a bit more used to the feeling of impending doom from others being after him, he could never sleep in a fashion close to comfortable. Minho wished he could’ve stayed in Han’s room and comforted him. Alas, Han wouldn’t feel comfortable at all with something like that. Minho’s imaged was quite tainted in Han’s mind. Minho pushed those thoughts aside. The last thing he needed was to be in a saddened mood before the battle of a lifetime. There had been much build up and planning that had went into all of this. Would it be worth it?

          He saw the four Witches flying in the distance.

 

—The time has come—

 

          Minho rushed from the balcony to inform Han. Han was standing by the window. It seemed he had already noticed. He turned around and looked at Minho. He sighed, “It seems it’s time. We _really_ have to do this.” His eyes were deep navy. He stood there for a moment; looking at the ground, looking at Minho. It was the moment it all finally settled in. It was time for action.

          The two exited the building and went to the center of the courtyard. It was a little ways from the palace, but the place would still probably be damaged. They stood back to back awaiting the witches to come overhead. Minho smiled as the Witches approached. Their bewildered faces were hilarious to him. Han rolled his eyes as he was noticed by the four. Just another day’s work.

          “You’re a fucking scheming bastard, ya know that?!” Seungmin yelled down at Minho. The four were surrounding the duo from overhead. Han was not going to be the one to initiate this fight. It was up to Minho as to when the first move would be made.

          “Aw damn, here I thought I was an angel.” Minho unsheathed his sword. “Go on ahead, come at me.” He was calm and blunt. Han was a bit envious at the elegancy he had. Han was more of a “let’s just throw a bunch of shit out there and hope it does something” kind of person. Their fighting styles clashed, yet went so well together too. The four landed on the ground and came at the duo from all sides. Han darted away from Seungmin who was charging at him. He pulled out a submachine gun and fired off. Seungmin reflected them off using his rose thorn whip. The red head threw grenades over at Han. Dashing to the side, Han pulled out his sword and charged at Seungmin. He slashed at him, but was countered by Hyunjin coming in from behind. Han threw his sword to the side and got out two guns pointing one at each of the Witches near him. He fired off causing the two to dash to the side. Han looked over to see how Minho was fending, but all there was, was fire so he assumed that meant he was okay. And then there was water. And more fire. He focused in on Hyunjin who controlled a black flame laden with the curses of demons. He knew he had to keep them from hitting him. If he didn’t he knew that it could mess with his mind. Hallucinations were in his plan for this fight or any fight. He threw some a gun stands and slapped some guns on

          “Auto-lock!” Han pointed at Hyunjin. A target stigma appeared on him. “FIRE!” The guns shot off creating a storm of bullets heading a Hyunjin. Han turned away and aimed a machine gun towards Seungmin and fired off. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the fire clear and spotted Minho and Woojin in one hell of a sword fight with one another with Jeongin giving his teammate back up form the side. He shot over there a few times to distract Woojin. He got out his own sword and ran at him. He was shocked by Woojin’s fast counters to his hits. His sword had an aura of electric bolts surrounding it. A direct hit from that would stun him, but not for long. Han had a quick recovery time from hits. Unless it was water… Jeongin unleased a wave of water that took Han off his feet and slammed him into the nearest wall. Woojin stuck his sword into the water. It electrified and immediately shocked Han. He yelled out in pain. Minho shot out flames right at Woojin and Jeongin and rushed over to Han. “I’m fine! I’m fine! Don’t stop what you’re doing to worry about me!” Han ran way from Minho and darted away from more of Seungmin’s grenades and whiplashes. Hyunjin came at him with his demon excursed sword. Han got out his own to counter. Han slashed him on the waist tearing Hyunjin’s clothes and causing blood pour. He knew that enraged Seungmin as he felt a slash to his own side from his whip. Then, the whip wrapped around Han’s waist and Seungmin slammed him into a tree. He shook his head that was throbbing with pain. Most likely some kind of concussion. He stood up set up some gun stands and auto-locked them onto Seungmin. He stood behind the stands and took a few deep breaths. He averted his eyes over to Minho. He was bloody, but so was Woojin. It appeared they each had some kind of stab wound. Jeongin appeared to be fatigued at most due to him being the support of the group. Minho shot out fire as if he was made of it. Han was entranced by the rhythmic, dance-like way Minho fought. _How could he be like that when the stakes are so high?_ Han was thrown out of his thoughts, literally, by a whip from Seungmin. _Note to self: daydreaming and being an airhead during a fight gets you hurt._ That was common sense, but with a brewing concussion he seemed to already be losing some of his. His reactions were slower too. He shot at Seungmin with a grenade launcher. He turned and shot some over at Woojin. Minho had the upper hand even with Jeongin giving Woojin back up. Han jumped up into the air and threw out some knives that he could stand on midair since he can’t fly. He saw Hyunjin talking to Seungmin. His initial thought was to dive down and ambush them, but that could easily have been what they were hoping for. Instead and landed back on the ground and sniper rifled them. Once the dust had cleared he realized they had changed their positions. Hyunjin came at him once again with a sword of demonic doom from behind.

          “JISUNG!” Minho yelled out. Han’s eyes met with Minho’s for just a moment as he was turning to counter Hyunjin, but he was too late. Hyunjin was already too close with his sword for Han to put anything in the way. The sword stabbed threw Han’s chest. He fell to the ground; his wound gushing out with blood. At stab right next to the heart it was. Minho’s call to him had allowed him to move just enough to avoid instant death. Minho sprinted over and jabbed his sword through Hyunjin knocking him to the ground instantly. He jerked his sword out of his body and kicked him to the side. He knelt beside Han who was coughing heavily and spitting out blood everywhere. He rested Han’s body in his arms. He darted his devilish eyes to the other Witches. Seungmin had rushed over to Hyunjin and the others followed.

          “That fucking bastard.” Seungmin jumped up and attempted to go annihilate Minho, but the others held him back.

          “How about you shut your asinine mouth and get the hell out of here before I stab the rest of you.” Minho’s voice was stern. He sparked flames at them to get them moving faster. Seungmin carried Hyunjin and the rest followed along. It appeared there was some kind of vehicle waiting for them on the outskirts of the palace’s grounds. How lucky they were to not have to fly themselves back to Samataria.

          Eric and a few other servants came rushing out with a gurney and other supplies. The servants took Han out of Minho’s arms and put him on the gurney to be rushed inside. Eric stayed outside with Minho.

          “They’re such dumbasses. Look what they’ve done. Their stupid plan didn’t work at all. All they did was cause more trouble and pain for both sides. I’m so done with this pathetic shit!” Eric was surprised by the amount of anger Minho was showing. To most it would make sense for him to be acting that way, but Minho was known for his calm, eloquent nature even in these situations. What made him change so drastically?

          “All we can do is plan for what may come next. We’ll have to see what Grratrude’s reaction on this is. How ill they feel knowing that Han is here?”

          “But what if he doesn’t even make it….? What if he’s dying in there!?”

          “Minho…calm down. Han will recover. It seems as though this battle has really gotten to you. You need to get medical attention yourself.”

          “But…he was almost killed. An instant death. Why? Why did he try to kill him? They want him for their own use so why would he try to kill him? I don’t get it.”

          “You should be happy that you saved him. If you didn’t call out to him, he wouldn’t have realized that Hyunjin was there. You know that would’ve happened.” Minho let those words settle in. He did “save” Han. But it wasn’t good enough. He was still severely injured. “I do have a question for you though.” Minho looked at Eric puzzled. “Why did you call him Jisung?”

         “Oh, that. Well Jisung is his name. If I would’ve yelled Han, I don’t think it would’ve had the same effect of getting him to turn towards me and thus moving slightly over to mess the placement of where the sword stabbed him.” Minho attempted to stand up. He was in pain all over from stabs and slashes. He put his arm around Eric’s shoulder for support as they walked into the palace. Soon afterwards he blacked out from fatigue and blood loss.

\-------

          Minho awoke in one of the hospital-like rooms of the palace. He was connected to an IV and heavily drugged up on medication. Numbness was all he felt physically. Mentally, he was longing-longing to be with Han. There weren’t any servants in the room. It seemed his condition was stable. His heartrate was close to the rhythm it should be. He could hear the sound of Han’s heart monitor. The beats were slow. Minho felt horrible about what happened. He wanted to protect Han. Alas, he got a D- at most on that. He saved him from getting killed, but that was all. That’s how he thought of it. He wanted to go be in Han’s room, but with the way he was drugged up, it’d be a miracle if he could wiggle his toes much less walk a few yards to Han’s room. He disconnected himself from most of the wires and tubes he was attached to. Dizziness overcame him as he tried to sit up. _I literally just need to walk about 15 feet. Come on life._

          After much struggling he managed to stumble his way out of the room with only the IV still connected to him. It was surprising that not a single person tried to stop him from even getting up from his bed. Minho didn’t care. He would’ve cursed at them to get out of his way anyways. Minho knelt by the hospital bed Han laid in. He positioned himself so his head was right in front of Han’s who was rested to the side and held his hand. Seeing Han in such a state was like a thousand stabs to his heart. His eyes teared up and within seconds he was a crying mess.

          “I’m sorry. I’m sorry…” He rubbed his face on Han’s shoulder. “I’m sorry…”

          “Min…ho?” Han was barely conscious. Minho looked into Han eyes with sorrow. His eyes were as light of blue as the sky.

          “I’m so sorry”

          “You don’t need to keep saying that………You did nothing wrong…” Han turned his head away from Minho. It pained him to see someone who he initially thought of as being so cruel, be so full of emotion—especially with emotion towards him. It was foreign to have someone be there right by his side like this. It hardly knew what to make of it. If someone did something nice for him, it was because they wanted something out of him or were trying to trick him. But then there was Minho who was so different. Cunning and kind he was. There was one thing he could say about it: He was beginning to like that kindness he had. His warm smiled he showed. The affection he wanted to give. Han noticed it. “Minho?” Han turned his head back over to him.

          “What is it?” Minho looked at him with wide, concerned eyes.

          “Why did you call me Jisung during the fight?” That was the one moment, out of everything, that stood out to him.

          “Well, your name is Jisung. Everyone calls you by your last name, but you don’t call them by their last name. At least not with me. You don’t call me Lee or Mr. Lee so why should call you Han when I could call you Jisung? Jisung is who you are. Han is just who everyone else thinks of you as. It’s what your family left you to be when they betrayed you. You aren’t that person to me. You’re not someone I want to change to fit my construct of what you should be. You’re Jisung.” Han was subtly baffled by Minho’s words. He had never thought of it that way. Everyone just called him Han so he thought that his first name didn’t matter. He held onto Minho’s hand tighter.

          “ That makes sense… I had never thought about it like that before. I’ve just always been called Han.” Han took a pause before continuing. “I…I only want _you_ to call me by that, okay? Only _you_ can call me Jisung…”

          Minho smiled. As teary-eyed as he was, utter happiness managed to bleed through. “Of course, _Jisung_ ~” The two chuckled. It was just one of those little things that can make someone laugh. “Jisung~?”

          “What?” Han rolled his eyes; Minho was already having too much fun just by calling him a different name.

          “Could I just…stay in here for a while?”

          Han looked over to the window. The sun was setting. He never thought he’d say yes to such a question, but he found the words slipping from his mouth. “Yeah, you could just be in here the rest of the night if you want. It’s probably uncomfortable to sit by the bed like that, but you do you. There’s not much I could do to stop you anyways.” Minho’s smile got bigger. He was so glad that Han, at least for this moment, was accepting of him. He rested his head on Han’s shoulder and the two fell asleep within minutes.

          Eric stood by the doorway. He had been there for most of the time Minho had been in Han’s room. There was no need for him to interrupt. Firstly, he had to make sure Minho didn’t spontaneously die from who knows what. More importantly, he wanted to see how Han would respond to Minho. Minho had been such a loner for all the years they’ve known each other. Seeing him like this with some one else brought a smile to face. Minho tried to cover up his loneliness and longing for someone. Eric knew though, but there was only so much comfort he could provide him. Minho needed some one else. Finally, it seemed he found that person.

\-----Samataria Witch Palace: Witches Meeting Room-----

          “I can’t believe we’ve been brought in for a meeting. We need to be in hospital beds right now. Especially Hyunjin! Come on, he almost died out there! What the fuck is this dumbass thinking?” Seungmin was furious. The King had ordered a mandatory meeting for all of them regardless of their horrid conditions. They were wrapped with hundreds of bandages. They most likely had some mental damage too. They were lucky Hyunjin was even conscious. Seungmin rolled his eyes double time as the King and his officials came in. Nothing could describe the absolute fury he had.

         The disappointment in the King’s face was clear. He scanned each of them up and down. Each one with more disgust than the last. Of course he was most appalled by Seungmin. If any of the Witches were to get hurt, it should’ve been him in the King’s eyes. He started his sentence was a sigh. “You all—”

          “Yeah we fucking failed. We don’t need to hear your damn mouth. We know. We did horribly. We fucking told you this wouldn’t work. Yet you still made us go out there and get half killed. Thanks. You’ve done great for a King.” Seungmin threw his hands in the air and sat back in his chair. His face said it all. His whole mood was “Do whatever the fuck you’re gonna do with me; I don’t care at this point” kind of mood.

          “Well if that’s how you feel that’s your deal, but you don’t need to bring such foul language to a formal meeting like this. Now, you all did…disappoint. Failure is close to what you could call it but you all did get a crucial piece of info: Han’s whereabouts.” Seungmin’s eyes twitched. Hyunjin sat half-dead in his chair. He could care less about what Seungmin might do or say. He wanted him to say the words the rest were all scared to. They were all fed up with it.

          “And what would you have done if Han wasn’t there? What if we came back in this state without any news on Han? Why the fuck does Han matter so much? Why is it always about what you fucking want? Why!? None of us want to keep going after that brat! You make it seem like that’s our only purpose. But it’s your fault you let him escape! That was all on **you**! **You**! You’re so oblivious. You're so greedy! That's all you are! It’s so fucking pathetic the way you are!” Seungmin stood and slammed his hands on the table startling everyone. The officials were quick to react to it though. They shot him with tranquilizer darts and he fell to the ground instantly. Hyunjin, who was right next to him, lifted his body back into the chair and turned it away from the table. He pulled the needles out so they wouldn’t keep injecting him. That was it. **_That was it._**

          Hyunjin interlocked his hand with one of Seungmin’s. Why? It was a lot more than a romantic support thing for comfort. Seungmin actually had a alchemy circle engraved on his hand. In order for Hyunjin to summon demons, whether it be physically or into someone’s mind, he needed a summoning circle. Seungmin’s worked for what he needed. He directed demons to the minds of the officials. Giving them hallucinations of screams and nails on the chalkboard. As the officials covered their ears in pain, the King eyes widened with fear. The other witches were shocked to see what Hyunjin was doing, but they sure as hell didn’t stop him. Hyunjin smiled as sadistically as one could. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at the King.

          “Go to hell!”

          He shot the King and the rest of the officials. He laughed.

          “Hyunjin…” Woojin was horrified. Mr. I-hate-fighting turned into King killer number two.

          “What?” He cocked his head to the side. “You think that **_wasn’t_** the right thing to do? He was horrible to us. Especially Seungmin… Seungmin did not deserve the treatment he got. It was always worse for him than it was for everyone else. I couldn’t stand it anymore, okay?! I just couldn’t.” Tears filled his eyes. “None of us ever deserved the overworking or the unnecessary fights and injuries that we’ve had to go through! We’ll be better off without him. Anything will be better than him as our ruler. We’re going to be the rulers now! This is our kingdom. We’ve done everything to protect it. It was never _his_ Kingdom.”  Other officials came running room. Instantly, they were horrified by what they saw. The tears in Hyunjin’s eyes were gone. Cruel sadisticness was all that was left. “This is our Kingdom now." He said to them. "Go on ahead, let everyone know. King killer number two is right here. Right before your eyes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for supporting this fic still! I'm sorry the updates have been so slow, but I'm working on this as much as I can! Shout out to DameilH13 whose comment on the last chapter gave me a few ideas for this chapter! Thank you all for your support!


	7. Evening Darkness

 

\-----Grratrude: Chan’s Room-----

It was all so distressing. Another King dead. The location of Han being found. What was really the next move to make? Who would make it? The trio sat spread around throughout Chan’s room: Changbin at the desk, Felix in the corner, and Chan on the bed. The atmosphere was chokingly stiff. Questions surged through their mind and pulverized them within every thought. A storm was amidst. Bringing in the cold air from the north, it raged on outside. Dark clouds blocked the sunlight. It wasn’t even worth having the window curtains open. It’d only make the room darker.

     “Another one down the rabbit hole to hell. But why? Why did they feel the need to kill him?” Chan signed. That was only one of many wonders he had.

     “I actually did get some info on that,” Changbin stated.

     “Oh, from—” Felix interjected.

     “Yup from him. Apparently it happened during a meeting with the King and the Witches. Hyunjin, the Witch of Demons, being the one to strike the shot.”

     “And here he was supposed to be the suave, calm one… wow.” Another sigh from Chan.

     “ Everyone has a breaking point. That must’ve been it for him. But the motives for those actions aren’t what matter to us right now. What matters is the next move _we_ take… and what the officials around here do. They are definitely going to be watching us meticulously. They know we are a threat to this kingdom. We could follow along. Kill our King. It’s on the table. I mean, we have plenty of reasons to do so. Just like they did.” Felix said.

     “Just like they did, huh? A common goal? Overthrowing a government? I wonder, do they expect us to follow along with what they’ve done? Is there some bigger plan we’re blind to?” Chan said.

     “You speak in more questions than statements.” Changbin interjected. 

     “There’s more uncertainties than facts. There’s so many things we can ponder and assume on, but no real confirmation for them. But really, what I’m saying is definitely something to think about. What if they want to… join forces? Join the kingdoms together and have the eight of us all be the rulers.”

     “Join forces? You’re actually going insane, Chan. Go to bed. Come on, we’ve been at war with them bastards for years. After all the bullshit we’ve gone through, no way.” Changbin was stern with his tone.

     “I think that, that wasn’t their initial idea for either Minho or Hyunjin when they killed their kings. It was more of an on the spot snap that led to such an action. But, now it’s an opportunity that has arisen due to the circumstances we’re in now. Minho likely didn’t think another kingdom’s King would’ve been assassinated after what he did. Of course, I’m not exactly too hot on the idea of joining forces…”

     “Well duh, especially due to that one time…” Changbin looked away from Felix. It was a painful memory to bring up. Felix had been on the final thread separating life and death. It was epidemy of “almost the end.” The battle of Evening Darkness it was called now since the sun was setting when it occurred. Samataria’s King had ordered for the capture of Felix. It was only a few months after Felix had been discovered as a Witch and turned in to the government. Samataria though that it would be easy pickings since he was the youngest and least experienced of the Witches of Grratrude. Ironically, it was around the same time that I.N had been discovered in Samataria. That led to only two of the four Samatarian Witches to go after Felix; those being Seungmin and Hyunjin. Woojin had stayed behind to train I.N.

     Poor Felix, never having been in a fight before, suddenly being ambushed one evening by two Witches. He had been at standing on a bridge admiring the view of the sunset as he commonly did in those days. It was much less strict back then; freedom wasn’t treason.

     The duo had dived into the bridge causing it to collapse instantly. Felix was winded from the start, but one of his specialties was having fast reflexes. It was a shocker to the to two when they saw him emerge from the rubble with a spear in each hand. His weapon, the Spears of Sunlight, illuminated with the brightness of the sun at peak. He would throw them at the Witches and have two new ones appear in his hands. However, no matter how much he dished out at them, they were the quicker, more skilled, more powerful of the sides. 2v1s had always been unfair. Especially when the difference in skill level was so high.

     Seungmin had him rooted to the grown with thorn stalks wrapping around his arms and legs. He stood over him with his whip mimicking the shape of Felix’s spears. The sky flashed with lightning. The sun was gone and so was Felix’s spirit. As battered as he was, it was a miracle that he had lasted so long. It was one stab and it would’ve been the end. Balancing poorly on the threads of life and death, he was on the last one. He had fallen from all the others so ungracefully. So disgustingly in the duo’s eyes. But he wouldn’t drop from the last one. He wouldn’t fall into their hands to be a part of them and their tainted souls.

     Changbin rushed in and swung is scythe with all the power he had knocking Seungmin out of the way and the recoil knocked Hyunjin back. Seungmin looked at Hyunjin with the “this really just happened” face. Changbin yelled at them to get the fuck away or actually go to hell. They didn’t want to back down, but their stamina had dwindled due to fighting with Felix. They could’ve taken Changbin on, but at that time it was one of the first sightings they had of him. It wasn’t worth it. They needed much more training. With that, they fled leaving Changbin and 99% dead Felix there. The sunshine boy had passed out at that point. Changbin looked at his exhausted sleeping face. “You’re a keeper for sure.” A few pitiful chuckles later and he was carrying Felix back to the palace.

     Felix was scarred from that night, but it allowed him to grow into the powerful fighter he is today. He had trained so much harder since then, and even now he remembers that fight when he needs motivation to keep going. He wasn’t going to be “the weak one.” On terms of shear power, he was on the same mark as the other Witches now.

     Felix shook his head. Flashbacks of that memory played in his mind often. “Ahh of course. I’ll never forget that. Them bastards. How could we work with them?” There were countless fights since the battle of Evening Darkness that he could bring up to go along with his statements.

     “It would stop all of this fighting.” Chan paused for a moment. “That’s what we’ve been wanting all this time.”

     “This isn’t the way to get that. It can’t be…” Changbin was stunned with puzzlement. Chan had a damn good point. But were the other Witches actually willing to go along with this too? Getting the Samatarian Witches was one thing, but getting Minho was a whole nother element. And before anything, they’d have to kill their own King.

     “If they’d be willing to drop what’s happened in the past, if we’d be willing to drop what’s happened in the past—we could do this. We could have peace—friendship perhaps? I know, I know, it sounds so insane, but please listen to me. I think this might be it. This would be the only opportunity for the next millennium to try to execute this kind of operation—to bring all of us together. Why should we be separated like this in the first place? There’s no reason other than war; other than what the Kings for generation after generation have wanted. Now there’s no heirs to the throne. We are the one’s left. We can change the future for everyone. Don’t you want that? A future with peace?”

     The two were silent as Chan’s heavy words filled the room. It was like a song with too much bass. You couldn’t avoid the hardy hits of them. It was just so much to take in. Forget the past? Look on to a new future? Be the makers of the new future? Here Chan was the most loyal to his respective King out of any of the eight Witches. Now he was ready to commit what he had pledged as a sin.

     “Chan…” Felix took deep breaths. Was this really what they wanted? “Fine. We can kill the King. I’ll agree with that. We can get our freedom back. That will be a positive no matter what happens afterwards. But on what happens afterwards…Ahh, I don’t know…it’s just…I think we should wait a bit to see the reactions of the other Kingdoms. Depending on how that goes then… who knows…we could be altogether? We could demolish each other till there’s only one group of Witches left that rules over the lands. The chances are way higher for the latter rather than the former.”

     “I agree to what Felix said. You never know till you try is a phrase for a reason. What do we have to lose at this point? After all we’ve been through. After how loyal we’ve been. We only gotten treated like an untrained dog. Killing him will be a benefit no matter what.” Chan relaxed his shoulders just a tad. It pained him to think about the upcoming crime he’d have to commit. He was the embodiment of the loyal soldier. Always his right hand man. Oh, how things changed—quite quickly too. This was the start. There were two endings of this as Felix had stated. Which would it become?

Operation: Become the Third King Killer: Commission Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awahhhh I'm so sorry it's been so long. I think about this fanfiction everyday I swear. Ahhhh, it's just hard to find time to really get down and write. School is the real King killer ahhhhh. Thank you so much for reading up to this point. I appreciate all of you so much!!!


	8. And thus, Disgust Turns into Surprise and Back to Disgust

\-----Grratrude-----

     After much discussion, the plan was finalized. There was quite a bit of back and forth between them.  Was it best to _wait_ till the chaos that had spawned from the events before to come to rest? Was it best to do it _while_ the tensions were high? The latter was chosen. The date being on a festival in two days. How wonderful it was to decimate him at what’s supposed to be such a happy event—a “good time” so they say. Before the King’s annual speech at the upcoming festival, they would attack. Having him die in front of a crowd wasn’t what they wanted. Yes, they want him dead, but not for hundreds of people to be scarred with the vivid memory of it. From behind the scenes they would attack right before the curtains for his unveil to the stage would open. He was always alone during that time. Of course, that could be different this time. They had accounted for that. It only meant that more people would have to die. Chan was front-line with Changbin and Felix as supports. It shouldn’t take too much to make the final shot. Live alone, die alone.

     Guilt clawed at the trio’s hearts. They had pledged loyalty. They had given it for years—only to obliterate it, too. There was no outsider that could give an opinion. No one to say “Of course what your doing is right!” That just wasn’t how it worked. The function of their world was against them.

 

\-----Jigoku Witch Palace-----

     The light of the sunrise shining onto Han’s sleeping face was the first thing Minho saw as he drearily opened his eyes. He wanted to rub his hand on Han’s cheek and see him open his eyes like what happens in a movie. This wasn’t a movie though. Minho had work that needed to be done and news to catch up on. Here he still had no idea of the events that had taken place in Samataria. Locked into a tight daze, it was hard for him to move away from Han’s side not only because of the glittering rays of the sunlight shining on Han’s face, or even the tight hold their hands had stayed interlocked in, but because of the awkward position he had been in. Sitting crisscross with his arms and head resting on Han’s hospital bed killed his back on top of all the other soreness and pain from the battle.

     He stood up only to almost fall back down due to dizziness. He disconnected the empty IV from his wrist. No need to lug that around anymore. He could hear the footsteps of someone approaching. Probably a nurse he thought. He hurried out of there to avoid an awkward confrontation. No one needed to know he’d been in there by Han’s bedside. It felt weird even to him that he had done something like that. A hazy daze his mind had been in that whole evening. Even now, he still didn’t feel that right. Of course, that would be expected for having been through such a battle. It seemed as though this one was bothering him more than usual. Pushing the thoughts aside, he searched to where Eric might be. A talk with him might be nice or at least get him updated. He walked down a few hallways to the east wing. The walls were accented with silver crown molding and the furniture was minimalistic, black and white throughout in this wing.

     He stopped right outside the door to Eric’s room. He heard him talking to someone. Pressing his ear up to the door, he tried to make out what was being said.

     “----really? I surprised you guys are gonna go for that. It’s risky…I mean, I could try to get him to understand that this would, indeed, be the best thing for all of us. It’ll be hard though…”

     “…”

     “Hey, the sooner we can get this all done the sooner we can hang out again! I’m so ready to beat you at video games.”

     “…”

     “Alright man, I’ll talk with ya later, okay? Bye bye~”

     Minho stood by the door puzzled as to who Eric would be talking to. It seems as though Eric’s known that person for a while. Childhood friends? Hearing Eric talk about such light hearted things like playing video games felt oh so bittersweet. How could he mention those things when the nobles are being killed and battles are happening left and right? Minho knocked on the door.

     “Come in.” Minho walked in and Eric was simply sitting in a black recliner on his phone.

     “I heard you talking with someone. Who was it?” Minho’s words were as blunt as ever. Eric was unfazed by it though. It was a typical thing for Minho to be like that; to be nosy.

     “Someone I’d hope for you to be well acquainted with soon.”

     “Well acquainted with?” Minho turned his head to the side. “Just what do you mean by that?”

     Eric bit his lip, looked off to the side and sighed. He knew Minho wouldn’t take what he wanted to say well. He’d have to craft his sentences delicately. Picking the words he spoke carefully, he began his spiel.

     “I’ll be honest with you. That’s what you want. I was talking to Felix, the Witch of Light, from Grratrude.” Minho’s face had instant disgust on it, but he spoke no words letting Eric continue on. “We were speaking of a plan...of _unification_. Due to the recent events…oh yeah, you still don’t know what’s happened in Samataria. Simply, the King there it dead too. One of the Witches there rebelled just like you did.”

     And thus, disgust was turned into surprise.

     “Who knows exactly the reason why that King is dead, but he is. Felix was talking to be about a plan the Grratrude Witches had of joining in and killing their King too. Might as well at this point. All of us can overthrow the governments and _join together_. Who knows how the Witches of Samataria would feel about that, but the Witches of Grratude are willing to do such a thing; to move on from what’s happened in the past and work together. If we’re going to do something like this, we’ll have to get on with soon since the governments could try to counter-rebel against us and try to take back the rule. Not that, that would work for them, but you know how arrogant they are and all the torture methods they have to silence us. That’s an unlikely thing especially for this Kingdom, but for the others it’s still a factor due to the governments large size and support of the people. It’d be dumb to think the officials would back down so easily when their King has been killed. At this point it should be Witches V.S. Officials not Witches V.S. Witches, don’t ya think?”

     It was quite a bit to take in. Starting off with the news of Samataria’s King being killed and then progressing to the plan of unification. What would be best for _this_ Kingdom? 

     Dodging that thought for a moment he changed the subject slightly. “How long have you known Felix?”

     Eric rolled his eyes at Minho’s obvious dodge of the question he had asked. But he rather it be that then Minho lashing out at him with bitter coldness. 

     “I’ve known him for quite some time. We’re childhood friends actually. I knew him since before he was considered a Witch. We were best friends. We still are really, but we hardly get to talk to each other and obviously it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. Last I saw him he had hair as dark as the night sky without stars while now his hair is blonde.”

     “How come you never told me about your connection to him before…you tolerated my attacks on Grratrude with no problem _knowing_ that your friend would be hurt…why?”

     “Well, from the beginning of me being here, you had a rivalry with them. I certainly didn’t want to be seen as a traitor for talking with the ‘other side.’ I wanted to be one of the highest officials in this place, so I had to fake till I made it. Of course it hurt knowing that Felix could be harmed severely. I’ve…I’ve cried many times over that, but it was all a part of ‘my duty’ here. Once my parents moved here from Grratrude it was set in stone that this was the place I’d have to be at. It was shortly after Felix had been turned in to the government as a Witch when I moved here. It was a double wammy to him. I wish I could’ve stayed with him and trained with him. Sure, my powers aren’t as strong, but I could’ve trained to be an official there. The past is the past now though. I learned to deal with the fact that I had become his rival as soon as I stepped in this Kingdom. It was a lucky thing that he still chose to be my friend even with all the risks that came with it. If I tried to protest your decisions to attack that Kingdom, you’d question my loyalty, probably prosecute me and have me put on trial for being traitor. You’ve done that to others. I know it would have been the same for me, so for all this time I just dealt with this as best as I could.”

     “A true loyal soldier you are. You two…I’ll make sure you two unite again even if I don’t agree to this whole ‘unification plan.’” Eric tried to hide his smile but it was too much emotion to hide. Here he had been separated from his friend for almost ten years and now he’d be able to see him again. “Now back onto that unification plan… no. Just no. This Kingdom is just fine without some crappy teamwork. Han and I can rule this land just fine.” Eric's smile faded. 

     “No, you’re missing the point. This would stop the fighting between the Witches. There would be newfound peace and serenity across the Kingdoms.”

     “Oh I get that. It’d be nice if it would work like that, but it sounds like a trap. Joining together for a false sense of security just to be back stabbed. Literally. It sounds like a plan for the trio to lure us other Witches with those glorious words of ‘peace and serenity’ since, of course, that’s what we’d all like. That’s how Witches are: cunning, deceitful, mischievous and Machiavellian in nature. Manipulating others is something that’s fed to us from the beginning. It’s a flavor we can detect and distinct from others easily. It’s something that grows within us all from the stems of it we’re fed. I’m not falling into such a trap. You can frolic around in it all you’d like. You can go have a fun time with that friend of yours and fantasize about a world were people do things for the greater good of others. Those ideals are not what this world is based off of. Survival of the fittest has been the mindset for centuries. That kind of plan is a way to further emphasize such a concept. The weak minded would fall into it’s glittering goals effortlessly and become entrapped by its supposed good-heartedness. That’s not me. I won’t give in.”

     Minho’s expressions were as cold and stern as ever. At first, it seemed as though his reaction to the plan would be positive. He had been open for Eric and Felix seeing each other and didn’t appear to be mad about their long-time connection. But now it was clear where Minho’s mindset truly was. Eric questioned if he could ever convince him due to his firm hold on such ideas of everyone being manipulative of others. Eric understood a bit as to why he thought like that. Up till now, that was the way Minho had been treated by others; a tool for manipulation, a pawn. Minho worked hard to separate himself from being a part of the ‘pawns.’ Being the only Witch of this Kingdom, made that quite a task. He wasn’t going to let the plan created by his long known rivals corrupt his mind. There was an ounce of doubt though. What would Han think of it?

     “That’s all I have to say on that…as of now.” Those being Minho’s parting words, he left from Eric’s room and headed towards his own. There was a lot to think through and dissect now. It had only just begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I say this every time in the notes but ahhhhh thank you all so much for reading! Minho's coldness is back and as bitter as ever. Dun dun dun... Who knows if he'll be able to change his mindset? What will Han have to say and how will it impact the way he feels? Find out next time on Dragonball Z! ...Oh wait wrong show...wait this isn't even a show! Heheheheh


	9. Reflection: Present and Past

\-----Samataria: Dungeon-----

     Seungmin felt his soul being drained as he sat chained in the room of gray walls and bars. After Hyunjin killed the King, things certainly didn’t go too good for him or the rest of them. They were ambushed and knocked out. Then, taken to the dungeon. Torture proceeded as always. Seungmin’s wounds from it were still bleeding out. A few on his arms, legs, back, and of course a classic mark on the cheek. His vision was unclear and his mind in a swamp of heavy emotions. He shuttered as he thought about what he had been through. It had been a few hours since the torture was ‘over.’ It was never over though. The would be another round of it soon. They had to teach a lesson to them somehow.

      His blurry eyes tried to make out who was in the cell across from his. Once he saw his face he knew just who it was: Hyunjin. It made sense for the officials to set it up like that. Hyunjin would have to see what his actions led to. He’d have to see the one he cared about most in pain all because of what he did. Seungmin tried to move a bit closer to the front of his cell to get a better look of Hyunjin.  He wished he could be right beside him. He was proud of him for what he did. To Seungmin, it was something that brought them closer even though they were far apart right now. He knew Hyunjin felt horribly guilty. He didn’t want him to think like that.

     As he got closer to the front, he saw the cell next to Hyunjin’s had I.N. in it, so Woojin’s must have been right next to Seungmin’s. Seungmin called out to Hyunjin. “Hyunjinnie…” His voice was weak, but he had to try. Hyunjin’s blankly staring eyes shot over to Seungmin. He winced back as he saw the poor condition Seungmin was in. “Hyunjin, I’m not mad at you…” Hyunjin shook his head and looked away. Guilt. That’s all there was between the two.

     “Minnie…I’m sorry…I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done what I did.” Tears streamed down his face. He looked so helpless even more so than Seungmin did.  “I just….I was so upset with the way you’ve been treated. It just wasn’t right. But, here now, you’ve been hurt even more…all cause of what I’ve done…” It was truly heartbreaking to see Hyunjin is such a state of guilt and regret. Seungmin just wanted to comfort him, to cry in his arms, and to just be with him. Alas, they were far too weak to try to break down the bars. They had been stabbed with plenty of tranquilizers and other chemicals to weaken them. Unable to stand due to the chains, all they could do was crawl around a cell of solitude.

     “Hyunjin… we’ll get out of this. We have to.”

     “How? You know they have every what if scenario planned out. They’ll know just what to do to stop us no matter what we try.”

     “They’re more worried about who is the successor to the throne. Of course that dumbass King Soo-man didn’t have a son or a wife. It’ll probably come down to who ever has the most money and fake promises to people that’ll be the winner. They’re all preoccupied with that. Of course we’re in no state to be able to stop it…”

     “What if this ends up worse than before?”

     “What do you mean?”

     “What if who ever takes the rule…is even worse to us than Soo-man was?”

     Seungmin stopped breathing for a moment.

     “A King worse than Soo-man…no… no the whole point of getting rid of him was to stop this treatment. There’s no way…it could get worse…” Seungmin felt like he was trying to convince himself with those words rather than Hyunjin. How could he have overlooked such a devastating possibility? The two sat in silence for a moment. They both knew very well that it **_could_** get much worse. There certainly was a chance of that happening—that chance being not a small one either. Seungmin really understood why Hyunjin felt the way he did now. It wasn’t just because of his actions that they were being tortured, it was that there whole futures could be affected for the worse by his actions. At this point, there was no saying things like _oh it’ll be okay_ , or _it’s alright_.  There were no words that could be used as comfort. It pained Seungmin. Not being able to do anything to comfort Hyunjin hurt him so much. After all the times Hyunjin has been there to comfort him, here now he couldn’t do the same. Of course, the situations were much different, but in Seungmin’s mind that didn’t matter. He just wanted to do something. I.N. and Woojin were either still passed out or didn’t want to interrupt their conversation. It was just Hyunjin and Seungmin. Seungmin pondered on different things to say. He knew what he wanted to say, but he was never the person to express his feelings so openly. Now was a time to say it. Maybe there were words for comfort after all.

     “Hyunjin…” Stalling for a moment, he said Hyunjin’s name to see if he was even conscious.

     “What is it?” Hyunjin’s tone was bleak. It was deterring. Nonetheless, Seungmin continued. He looked over at Hyunjin’s cell in an attempt to make eye contact with him. As there eyes locked he spoke.

     “I love you…Please, don’t forget that.” His eyes shined with sincerity. Hyunjin moved right up against the front bars of his cell. His eyes were wide with surprise, but a smile was shown.

     “Minnie, I love you.” Hyunjin knew Seungmin felt so embarrassed whenever he called him Minnie, but he couldn’t help it. He needed something just a bit lighthearted in this moment. Seungmin smiled as he heard those words.

     “We’re gonna get through this together, okay?”

     “Always.”

\-----Grratrude: Felix’s Quarters-----

     Felix once again was sitting at his cherrywood desk as he always did in the late evening writing another day in his diary. He was thankful that he got to talk with Eric. It had been a couple months since their last talk and so many events had occurred since then. Eric told him about Han, Minho’s obsessive behavior, possible future plans Minho had and anything else he could think of. Felix was intrigued about the whole Han thing. Hearing about Minho’s stalker behavior was a shocker. Felix had thought of Minho as a cold, ruthless Witch. That thought still stands true. It just that there are some additions that go along with it. It was a mystery to everyone as to what made Minho be like that to Han specifically. It wasn’t just because he needed him for power. There was something more to it. Eric mentioned some stuff about Minho being lonely which was understandable for his situation. It was just something he had never thought of before. Of course, it wasn’t like he spent all day thinking about Minho and why he does the weird shit he does. He knew that Minho had a few connections with Chan though. Eric explained a bit about those. 

\----------

     “Connections with Chan? What do you mean? How so?”

     “Well, a while back they actually had a plan to work together to get Chan out of Grratrude and come to Jigoku. Minho had hanged out with him a few times actually. Now most of their hang out sessions was really just them doing military talk. They were steadily forming a plan to get Chan out of Grratrude. This was before you were even a Witch of Grratrude back when it was just Chan and Changbin. They knew that what they wanted could totally cause a war though and that’s what stalled them so much. Oh yeah, Minho was a lot less brutal at this time too. He was a bit more like a human than a cruel robot killing machine thing he is now. The Minho we know today would have done whatever the hell it took whether or not a war would’ve happened. Back then was a different story. He was a lot more cautious.

     Anyways, one day Chan had came here a bit earlier than expected and I, unknowing that he wasn’t supposed to be here yet, let him in to go where ever he needed. I realize now that Chan had came early on purpose. He wanted to look through Minho’s documents, notes, plans and anything else he could get his hands on. It seemed he had a suspicion that Minho was tricking him into something. And he was right. There was a lot of trust that had built between the two, but it was destroyed in a second. Minho was pretty naïve back then. Now all of his papers are in locations that even I don’t know about. So, when Minho went into his room he saw Chan there and boy was that one hell of a sight to witness. I actually saw it. One of the other officials and I were there peaking in from the hall. Minho was so shocked. Looking back on it, his facial expression was so funny cause he was so surprised and I’m like ‘how da fuq did you not see this coming.’ Well, back then I didn’t see it coming either. We were all pretty stupid back then. Except Chan. He’s always been smart as hell. Jeez, I gotta stop getting so off track. So, Minho was all like ‘Chan, what are you doing here???’ and Chan was like ‘I knew it.’ And he held up some papers and said ‘I knew it. I knew this was all a selfish act! I knew that you were doing this for your own benefit! You never cared about me at all. This fucking act of yours… how saddening… I really…I thought I could trust you. I thought I could bridge the gap and make relations for Grratude and Jigoku better. But I see. You’re the witch of **Hell** fire for a reason. Cause you belong in **hell** for your sinful acts.’ Then Minho was all silent for a moment. He was so lost as to what to do. And Chan started crying and it got so much worse. It was painful to watch honestly. So finally Minho was like ‘Chan… I’m so sorry. I…I didn’t know we’d grow to _like_ each other so much. I didn’t know we’d end up being _friends_ like this. That stuff your holding, it’s all old—it doesn’t reflect how I feel now.’ Then Chan said ‘That’s bullshit! You never wanted to be my friend. You made sure of that. Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. That was your mindset. I’m done with you. I’m so sick of you. I’ve had such a bad feeling this whole time but I ignored it cause I really thought there was something more to you. I prayed that what I thought just couldn’t be right. At least now I know for sure that I was right.  You bastard. You’ll get nowhere acting like this.’ Chan ran out after saying that, but Minho chased after him and grabbed his wrist. ‘Chan I swear that’s not how I feel. I really want to work with you! I don’t want to be against you!’ But no matter what Minho said, Chan just ripped away from Minho’s grip and out the door. Probably the saddest part was right after Chan left cause Minho fell to his knees right at the palace door and started crying. ‘Chan…don’t leave me…don’t leave me like this…’ I actually started crying after I heard that and the other official I was with did too and we just went to some random room cause we definitely didn’t want him hearing us.

      I personally think that Minho initially was going to just use Chan for his personal endeavors, but after they really started to get to know each other, I think his mind really did change at least little a bit. But he didn’t have such thoughts written on his documents, so in the end, no matter what he said to try to keep Chan around it wouldn’t work. Minho’s own belonging were against him. I do think that Chan still has a soft spot for Minho. Remember when I told you about the meeting Chan and Minho had right when Han was discovered in Samataria? Are you even alive still man? You’ve been so quiet”

“Yup I remember and this is a heck of a lot to take in. You just keep going man. Imma just absorb it.”

“Okay okay. So Chan was the one that had wanted that meeting and I think that the real purpose was to warn Minho about the attack Samataria was planning on Jigoku. But Minho never let Chan talk about what he actually wanted to cause he just pestered him with questions about Grratrude’s advancements on Stara. There’s just so much irony with that meeting cause after the alarm went off for Han being discovered Chan said ‘Should **_we_** go after him?’ and Minho was the one that was upset thinking that he was going to be used by Chan to get Han.”

     “And Chan got bitter cause it reminded him of old times and that’s why he left so soon?”

     “That’s exactly what I think. Who knows if that’s really the case. I could just be over analyzing stuff and making connections where none are actually at, but it’s very interesting to think about especially with Chan’s plan to kill the King of Grratrude to initiate a ‘unification of the Witches.’”

     “Yeah that’s what I was thinking, but after hearing all this, it makes more sense now. Chan probably thinks that’ll he’ll be able to get Minho to join along somehow even though we’ve deemed him as hardest one to get to join.”

\----------

 

     Felix wrote down a summary of the memory. He had never realized just how intertwined the Witches all were till Eric had told him such stories. Just as he finished writing it all down Changbin came in.

     “Whatcha been writing down today?” Changbin was as calm and casual as ever. He always seemed to be at ease when he was with Felix. That’s probably why he came into Felix’s room: to relax some even with all the chaos happening.

     “It’s a story that Eric told me. It was about the time that Minho and Chan were kinda friends and then how that friendship ended.”

     “Ahhhhh I’ll never forget Chan rushing back here with tears streaming down his face after all that. It’s one of the reasons I’m still so shocked that he’s so assertive with the ‘unification of Witches’ plan. A part of me thought that he’d never get over being betrayed like that, but hey the past is the past.”

     “It sure is. The future is rushing towards us fast.”

     “Like always, I never feel truly prepared.”

     “Same here man. It’s so unpredictable even when you think you’ve planned out every scenario, somehow a completely different one ends up being reality.”

     “You sound so philosophical. You need rest after thinking so hard on things.” Changbin had already gotten in Felix’s bed. A night of cuddling it was to be. Felix smiled and closed his diary.

     “I’ve got to figure out this world out somehow. It’s mysteries are mine too.”


	10. Logic Over Emotion

\-----Jigoku Witches Palace: Minho’s Room-----

     Here it was midday, but Minho was still asleep. The sleepless nights had finally caught up to him. He’d been uneasy ever since he brought Han into his dwelling—constantly paranoid of attacks from one’s who may be after him. Han’s protection was his top priority at this point. Minho couldn’t bother with the government work that had been pushed on him since the death of the King. One of his old officials had taken the lead, in the public's eye, in place of the King as a prime minister or at least a position equivalent of that. He could deal with all that bullcrap Minho couldn’t care less to do.

     He was curled up in a fetal-like position. He wasn’t the type to sleep like that. Always confident. Always for sure of the events to come...for the most part. Now, things were so unstable. The ceaseless thoughts of worry ran through his mind even as he slept. He’d have to adapt to it to prevail through like he always did.

     Finally, he was awoken from his not-so-peaceful slumber by a shake of his body. He had no desire to get up. “Fuck off Eric.”

     “I’m not Eric.”

     Minho’s eyes opened gently as he realized who that bright voice belonged to. He flipped over and sat up so he’d face him. “Jisung…”

     “Good morning—well actually it’s afternoon now. You were pretty deep into your sleep. It took a few tries to get you to wake up.”

     “Shouldn’t you be resting and healing up? What are you doing here?” Concern was all that was on Minho’s face.

     “I…I was worried about you. You didn’t visit me yesterday. I was told you were busy, but I just wanted…to be a good person and check on you anyways.” Han seemed embarrassed as he spoke. He changed the topic to cover it up. “It seems I’m recovering faster than the nurses thought I would. I’m still sore as hell, but the stab wound itself has closed up.” Minho felt guilt pinch at his heart as he realized he really didn’t check up on Han yesterday. Once he woke up and left the room he really never went back to check on him.

     “I’m sorry. I should’ve checked on you. You’re…… never mind. I should just be more concerned with your condition. That’s all.” Han pouted. He knew there was something Minho wanted to say, but he refused to tell him.

     “You’re so stubborn with your words. You always have to make sure what you say fits in with the character you’ve made yourself to be seen as. You rarely deviate from the core of who you’ve made yourself out to be. You don’t have to be like that. More people would like you if you weren’t like that.”

     “I don’t care about others liking me. They should be intimidated by me. They should know not to mess with me. I always have had a secret weapon, an unforeseen tactic, or something that has given me the advantage. There’s no need for me to demonstrate weakness when all I have is power.”

     “Those are the most overconfident, arrogant, yet cliché words I ever heard from someone. It’s no use being kind to you, is it?” The brightness in his voice was gone. “Stop being someone you’re not. I feel… that is your fatal flaw.” Han looked at Minho and sighed. He left the room unsatisfied with how that went, but at least Minho knew he was recovering quickly.

     Han rested against the wall outside Minho’s door. He pondered off into thought. He wanted to hate Minho. It made so much sense to hate him. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. That was saying a lot due to all the unfortunate things he had been through. He should hate everyone at this point, but the kind, lighthearted core of his personality was still there. He wanted to be that person: the person who emerged from a broken past into the better future. These circumstances just wouldn’t allow for it. He wasn’t going to let this be the way things stayed. Either he’ll get Minho to change, well not really change, more like make him be himself, or he’ll just leave the place and go back to his old ways. He strayed his thoughts from the latter. Even if Minho stayed the way he was, this was a safer option to just put up with that in exchange for safety or at least more safety than he’d have if he was on his own.

     Minho opened to the door to see Han still outside leaned up against the hallway wall. He looked at him for a moment. He knew that Han was out there the whole time due to checking the surveillance cameras but he hadn’t realized how Han’s eyes looked so lost. Han didn’t even realize Minho had come out. 

     “What are you doing out here?” Minho attempted to loosen Han from the grips of his intense thoughts using his words.

     “Huh, what?” Han shook his head and flinched back as he noticed Minho was there staring at him with wide eyes.

     “This is why you should be resting. You probably have a bunch of concussions and now the effects of improper care is messing with your head. Or perhaps you were just trying so hard to hear if I were to say anything after you left; nosiness getting the best of you?”

     “No, it’s neither of those. I literally was just thinking about life and crap.” There wasn’t much of a way for Han to play this off. He had gotten pissed off at Minho and then proceeded to stay right outside his door. Those two certainly don’t have positive connotations for conclusions.

     “Thinking about me perhaps?” As weird as it was for Han to admit it, he actually was thinking about Minho.

     “Yeah, I was.” He turned his head to the side to hide any possible blush. Even though he wasn’t thinking of him in a good context the fact that Minho was only a foot away from him where he could practically feel his breath made Han uncomfortable.

     “Blunt, huh? I’m not surprised you are after those statements you made. Never mind that, I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about.” Minho led Han down the hallway to one of the meeting rooms. This particular one had a seemingly comfortable atmosphere like a living room in a home. Two reclining chairs and a simple coffee table was all there was in the space of evergreen walls and oakwood floors. The two sat down in the chairs across form each other. Minho’s aura was intimidating as he sat across from Han. His posture made him seem persuading in the way of ‘you better do what I say and listen to my words as they are the only ones that will matter to you.’

     “I wanted to inform you of something Eric had talked to me about. First of all, Eric has connections with Felix of Grratrude. They were childhood friends. Recently they talked and Felix had mentioned a plan of unification of the Witches where they would kill their King, forget everything from the past and move on to a future of working together. What do you think of such an idea?”

     “It sounds impossible.”

     “Just what I thought.”

     “But, **you’re** the one making it that way.”

     “What? You think it’s just me? Ahhh Jisung, you’re being so hard on me today.” Minho rolled his eyes. It seemed the more they spoke, the bigger the rift between them got.

     “Well, the other Witches could be hard to get to work together, but not impossible. You are a very different story. Your arrogant attitude of total self-sufficientness is keeping you as far away from the concept of teamwork. You’re the odd one out. As for Samataria and Grratrude relations, I think there’s actually a Witch of each that talks to each other like Eric talks with Felix.”

     “Who would that be?” Minho was intrigued by the thought of a Witch from Samataria and Grratrude working together. It was something he hadn’t ruled out, but he never found much evidence of it himself.

     “Oh I don’t know who it is for sure, but I have a good as hell guess that’s supported by evidence from my days of staring at camera feeds. It’s Hyunjin and Changbin. I’ve seen them on the phone at the same time and it really looked like a conversation was going on between the two. But, you haven’t checked the camera feed of those places  recently to see for yourself, now have you? You were too busy stalking me. Well besides that, have you noticed that they are the only pairing of Witches that haven’t fought each other? Going through the battle history, you’ll see that they have never gone against each other in a 1v1.”

     “That makes sense. I see where you’re drawing your conclusions from. So you’re implying that it’s not going to be that hard to get the Samataria Witches to work with the Grratrude one’s, right?”

     “Exactly, that’s probably half the reason they wanted to attempt such a plan. It’s just that you are the biggest hinderer to it.”

     “How do you feel about the plan then? With such connections you’ve made, what would you do? Sure, you’re not a Witch per se, but you’re pretty much trapped with us. Although, running away is still an option for you.”

     “Do you want me to run away? A part of you does, doesn’t it? You keep mentioning it as if you’d like me too. You wanna feel that excitement of the chase to get me again, huh?”

     “No, I’m not like that! I’d be… saddened by your disappearance. Now answer the question.” Han could see it. That side of Minho.

     “Ahh, okay, okay. I think that such a plan could work if executed properly.” Minho sat feeling defeated. Really no one else thought of it the same way as he did. “I mean, the actions of the other Witches had been dictated by their rulers rather than by their own choice. You have to understand that. I know what you’re thinking. It’s just a plan of manipulation blah blah which it very well could be. But with the circumstance that Grratrude is in, I just don’t think they’d have some secret weapon to take all the other Witches down when they fall into the trap. You’re the only one with a secret—well not so secret—weapon. That being Me~ I’m not really that hot on such an idea either cause ya know I’ve been captured by each of the main Kingdoms at some time or another. Whether my stay was long or short doesn’t matter. What matters is thinking logically about the whole thing. The Witches, I don’t think they’ve ever truly gone after each other for personal get back or gain from it. It had always been a decision of the King for them to make such a move. You can’t take this plan as a manipulative tactic like you would ordinarily. The Grratrude Witches are gonna kill their King to enact their plan so it’s impossible for it to be an order from him. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea for you to join it. The other Witches are probably going to join together whether you come with them is your choice in the end. If you don’t go with them…problems could arise for you down the road. Well, I guess I’d be there too for the ride, but I wouldn’t be happy with that kind of ride. I’ve been on the rough road long enough. You have too. I know you have. But this is the intersection where you could turn off of it.”

     The way Han explained his thoughts was much more convincing to Minho than the way Eric explained it. Eric seemed as though he was blinded by the gloriousness from the ideals the plan bestowed. Han saw it as something that when you logically think about it, there were stable reasons as to why it wasn’t for the manipulative purposes he had thought of it as.

     “Jisung…”

     “What?”

     “You really won’t leave me, right?” Han was startled by the sudden change of mood and tone.

     “As of now, I wouldn’t.”

     “If you saw hints that this was indeed a trap of some kind, you’d turn back against them, right?”

     “Well, yeah of course. I wouldn’t just stay there to be used.” Minho sat silently for a moment.

     “I can’t believe you’ve convinced me.”

     “Wait, I have?”

     “As long as I have you to turn to as a true ally then…this would be worth a shot.”

     “You really think so? You’re really convinced that this could actually led to something good rather than bad.” Han was shocked by what he was hearing from Minho. He thoughts that even his words wouldn’t get through to him in the way he wanted them to. He was wrong.

     “I’ll tell Eric about my choice. He can tell Felix and then we’ll see how it goes from there. I’m quite weary about this.” Minho looked off to the side and ran his hand through his hair. _But_ _I want to do what would make you the happiest regardless if it is what I would do personally._ “But there would be more disadvantages in not joining than there would be joining based on the information we have.”

     “I agree with you.” Han picked up on the pause between Minho’s statements. He could tell Minho changed what he was going to say last minute. It seemed he was getting pretty good at reading him already. “Guess you won’t be the sole ruler of this place after all.” Han finished with a smile. A reference to Minho’s short yet memorable speech after the King had been killed. Minho smiled lightly from the reference.

     “It appears so…”


	11. Another One Bites the Dust

\-----Grratrude-----

     Newfound confidence was bestowed upon the trio as they prepared for their heinous crime. With the news from Eric that Minho would be willing to be apart of the unification plan, all that was left to do was get confirmation from the Witches of Samataria…but no one has been able to contact them in days. It wasn’t an outright, alarming case, but it was troublesome that this period of uncontactability had to occur now. This had happened before. It wasn’t a rarity to be unable to talk to the Witches in the other kingdom for periods of time, yet why did it feel different this time? They couldn’t let that feeling of unsettled, uneasiness corrupt their minds. Today was their only chance of achieving what they wanted most of all: Unity.

    They were getting geared up. Poisonous needles, guns of all caliber, and anything else you’d imagine some crafty criminals carrying was what they had—not that they really needed this stuff. They were Witches. They don’t need such items due to their powers. The thing was, it was just so much more fun this way. Gotta get pumped up somehow and what better way to do it then pretend your some criminal from movie getting geared up to fight.

     The festival was in full swing. Bright colors of orange and yellow filled the surroundings. Although it was nearing winter, the people were enthralled with the air like it was the first brisk day of fall. The Witches got out of the escort car. Eyes were all on them. Of course they dressed for the occasion too. Orange silk long-sleeved shirts tucked into black leather pants. Their styling was on point… for sinners in disguise. The people fawning over their good looks would soon have their faces turned to horror. The trio had thought of that too. Their actions weren’t only to get what they wanted. What they wanted should benefit the people too. As of now, they have been ruled by what would be better classified as a dictatorship rather than monarchy. Then again, there wasn’t much of a difference between the two.

     The Witches went to their station near the King’s area. This was the point where people would be able to go up to them and talk with them, ask questions, give gifts and other things of that sort. This was their favorite part of the events. Being able to talk with the people of the kingdom was pretty relaxing. Hearing their stories, their future ambitions, their aspirations, it was an inspiring thing to witness. The Witches were quite loved by the people even though they weren’t often seen by the public’s eye. Locked behind the palace’s walls was were they spent most of their days. They were hidden away from everyone. At times it seemed as though they were hiding from themselves.

    Once their time with talking with the people was up, they went to the King’s booth as they did usually. They each made eye contact with one another. Their hearts were racing, but fear was no where to be found. A moment of confidence had arisen. There were no officials in the booth. The King was turned away from the three not acknowledging their presence. Chan went over to a mirror and looked into at it for a moment. The final time he’d be  _pure_ , unstained with the forever daunting guilt of killing another being.

_Guess even **I’m**  a bad person after all, _he thought.  _Then again, have I ever really been a “person?”_

     Changbin had been quite persistent in doing the killing move himself. It suited him. Mr. I-Love-Dark fitted perfectly into such a cruel, unforgiving construct. But, Chan thought that if they really wanted to cut ties with it all—to truly remove them from this mold they’ve been in their entire lives—then he would have to be the one to do it. He was the one who was intertwined the tightest. The threads of that fate were wrapped and knotted thousands of times around him. It was his move to rip himself away. Changbin and Felix: he never thought of them as being truly locked in. He had done all he could to take the brunt of this life all himself. Every scolding he took the blame for. Every mistake he took as his own. Every punishment be begged for the others to be released and for him to receive three times the pain. He did everything for the greater good of Changbin and Felix rather than himself.

     Chan nodded his head at the others. It was time. Chan went right behind the King with cunning steps and raised his gun. The others were right behind one on each side of Chan for backup. “Chan?” The King said calm as ever. Chan was unfazed. Changbin and Felix were startled but followed Chan’s lead of staying collected.

     “What is it?” The King turned around facing Chan and his unwavering pistol.

     “I thoroughly enjoyed this game, Chan. You’re so usable, so easily manipulated. What a wonderful run it’s been.”

     “Well let me tell you something you prick. You’ll have a wonderful time running in hell, now won’t ya?” Chan thought about just pulling the trigger there, but he just had to ask him a few questions. “What I wanna know is: why? Why did our suffering bring you enjoyment? Why did you this to us? Keeping us at war with everyone…why?” Chan kept the gun pointed right at the King’s puny head. There was no way he’d let his guard down.

     “Ahhh Chan, such cliché questions you have to ask. You should’ve just killed me by now. My answers won’t satisfy you. This isn’t the end.

**_-You haven’t won-_ **

     Only more suffering is on your path, Bang Chan. Only more of your friends will be harmed. I’ll be able to laugh at it all from beyond the grave knowing that I’ll still be controlling the strings even then.”

     Those words pierced through Chan’s wall of confidence. But the wall wasn’t broken.

     “I know that killing you isn’t the winning move. I know that all too well, but I will win in the end. I have no doubt of that. I don’t care how many strings you have attached to me. I’ll cut every last one of them. There will be retribution. Hell awaits you.”

     “Hell may await me, but what awaits you, Chan? There must be more bloodshed. That’s all I’d ever hope for you. That’s all that’s ever happened to you. Having yourself or those pathetic two get hurt. Guilt floods your mind, doesn’t it?”

     “Give me some words with a substantial meaning. You’re stating the obvious.”

     “My secrets are mine and mine alone. I’ll die with them forever locked in the capsule that his my mind and body. That’s all I have left to say. It was a fun game with my presence…It’ll be even more fun without me though, now won’t it?”

     Chan eyes were stern, devilish-like in their own way. “Never. It’ll never be that way. Instead, you’ll be repenting for your sins so loudly we’ll hear it all the way up here. Sweet revenge for all of us. Not just us, but every Witch.” The King’s eyes widened as he realized the true intentions of Chan’s plan. It wasn’t for Chan’s personal gain as he thought it was. It wasn’t him following into his footsteps to get power. It was for something he had never experienced himself: A plan for teamwork, for unity. “Yeah, you thought wrong. I’m not selfish like you. I don’t do such things for my own gain. I do it for the greater good of the one’s around me. But you’ll never be able to understand such a concept. Most people don’t. That’s why this world is so corrupt. That’s why it stays so corrupt. It’s the mindset we’ve all been brainwashed into. That ends here. A new era has begun. And…”

     “And, we’re not just the other two Witches.” Changbin stepped forward. “We’re not some fucking pawns for you or for Chan like you seem to think of us as. I’d kill Chan in a second if need be. I don’t care what he’s done up to this point. If he ever crossed me it’d be his end. Betrayal is betrayal. But today, this here for you isn’t a betrayal..”

    Felix stepped forward and continued the thought on. “Instead, it’s a special serving of revenge. Just. For. You.”

     “So finally, not I, but instead,  **We**  win.” With a sly smile on his face, Chan pulled the trigger.

     Officials came running in. They were horrified by the sight they saw. The people outside were startled by such a noise of commotion coming from inside the booth. They knew something was greatly wrong. Chan went outside to the podium got the attention of the people. Time to shine.

     “Everyone, I have no regret in announcing that the so-called dear leader has been killed. Yes, you heard that correctly. The third and final of the Kings of the big three Kingdoms has been killed. Us Witches will be the head as of now. There’s a new message that we want to spread across this land. You all should start doing things for the greater good of others. Work to improve the overall quality of everyone around you instead of just yourself. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do anything for yourself, but rather the actions you take that affect others should affect them positively. Rather than you being the only one to gain a positive benefit, they should gain something too. Balance is key. This is a new era for this land. For Grratrude, for Jigoku, for Samataria and even for the smaller Kingdoms like Stara and Sidelp. Please, continue on with a new mindset. Be a better person. Unification is at hand. These wars should soon be over. Brighter days will emerge. A brighter dawn is what you’ll wake up to. I understand how traumatic these past days have been. It will get better. We will emerge with greatness—together.  Thank you. Thank you all.”

 

\-----Samataria: Dungeon-----

     Seungmin arose from his not-so-peaceful slumber to the sounds of Woojin, I.N. and Hyunjin talking. Of course he was the one knocked out the longest from their latest torture session. At this point, the more sleep the better. Once he got himself partially together he tuned in his ears to the conversation and his eyes locked onto Hyunjin who was looking right back at him. It pissed Seungmin off so much that Hyunjin had to be across from him. It was just the cherry on top of all the other torturous crap he’s gone through. Hyunjin was the only one he wanted to be with right now, but of course his wishes were never granted. So finally he announced his presence to the other two. A dismal response of  “Welcome to the club” from Hyunjin and a couple hey Seungmin’s met him. From what he could see I.N didn’t look that hurt in comparison to the rest of them. He was happy for that…but also jealous. He had guilt for having that feeling in response, but he couldn’t help it. He was the one that always got the most pain inflicted on and then there’s a Witch who hardly ever gets any real torture. Seungmin could tell that Hyunjin saw how bothered he was by that fact. Alas, there wasn’t anything they could do for comfort. It was just one cold blow after another.

     “So what’s the spill, the tea, the whatever ya wanna call it?”

     “We haven’t talked about much really…” The soothing voice of Woojin spoke. “There have been more weak ‘we’re gonna get through this’ messages then anything. Oh, and of course the stuff of about some horrible possibilities.”

     “I see…but saying such crap isn’t going to do anything. We have to act.”

     “If we’re not in condition to act then there’s no way in hell that you’d be ready to do anything either.”

     “That’s pretty true. I always get the brunt of this shit. Here I.N. had a cat scratch in comparison to my World War II wounds.” Seungmin shook his head. It just wasn’t right. There was no real reason he was hurt more than the others aside from the pure enjoyment the officials get from it. It should be all or nothing. Not, some get a little pain while some get a lot.

     At this point, the unfairness of the treatment he received was a minuscule thing in comparison to getting out of this dungeon. He had been here alone quite a few times. Typically, he was begrudgingly let out within a few days or a week. That was about the time they had been there now.  Speak of the devil, there came some officials down the corridor with their keys jingling. It was like the bells on a Christmas tree. The officials stopped in front of each of the Witches cells and unlocked them.

     The officials didn't say anything. They simply stood back staring with their expressionless eyes. Seungmin was weary on what was happening. The others were ecstatic with newfound energy and purpose. Seungmin thought that this could be a trick: A false sense of freedom that could be crushed even faster than it was birthed. Hyunjin shook him out of those thoughts for a moment with a tight hug. Seungmin’s first instinct was to push him away. How embarrassing it was for there to be affection going on between them not only in front of Woojin and I.N but some officials too. It didn’t feel right. Nonetheless, Seungmin accepted Hyunjin’s warmth with all that he could and then pulled away. Hyunjin could see the haste Seungmin’s actions had. It gave off a mixed message. Seungmin’s stern expression didn’t help either. He was darting his eyes everywhere to spot who may be hiding out waiting to crush their hope.

     The four rushed there way through the maze-like corridors and hallways of the dimly lit dungeon. Seungmin took the lead due to knowing the place the best. Memorization comes with such unfortunate experiences. Hyunjin held onto Seungmin’s wrist. He’d rather have been holding his hand, but his aura deterred such an act. He was lucky Seungmin hadn’t swatted his hand away already. As they headed up the final stairwell to the outside, Seungmin felt a twinge in his chest. Once he opened the door, he was met with surprise at who he saw: Seo Changbin.

     “Now what the hell are you doing here?” Seungmin’s attitude seemed as bad as ever. After being tortured for almost a week to then be suddenly released and to then come out and see his archrival, archnemesis, the guy who is literally the embodiment of the devil: Seo Changbin.

     “Oh come on, I pretty much just saved you.” Hyunjin tightened his grip on Seungmin’s wrist. There was no way Seungmin would ever make it if he got into a fight right now. “Look I heard, well more like assumed, that there was distress in these parts due to my many unanswered phone calls," his eyes darted over at Hyunjin, "...and of course because of the disappearance of you all right after your King was killed. I couldn’t just wait for you wea—unfortunate souls to work this out on your own cause it was pretty obvious that wouldn't have happened. It would've been an endless cycle of torture till the officials finally figured out what to do with you all. Simply put, I would've killed them if they didn't willingly let you out, so heyyy I helped you. We all gotta start getting along anyways.”

     “Oh no what do you mean ‘we all gotta start getting a long?’” Seungmin felt his will to live decrease with each word Changbin spoke.

     “Unification, that is what I mean.”

     “How so?” Woojin stepped forward. Matters like these were always in his hands. Diplomacy was a action banned in Seungmin’s mind, so the sooner someone else takes the lead, the better-for the rest of the world at this point. 

     “Well, it seems you all haven’t heard the news. Our King’s dead too.” A shower of what’s and omg’s followed. “Yeah, that’s right another loser down and hopefully no more to go. I swear it wasn’t my idea to do that either. It was actually Chan’s.”

     “I knew that edgy lookin’ dweeb had a dark side.” Seungmin mumbled a bit too low for anyone else to hear.

     “If it was Chan’s plan, then why are you here? Is Chan too scaredy to face such a crowd like us? I mean we have a sexy demon seducer, a hot head red head, an electrical outlet, and a rubber ducky which all together makes a pretty tough team. ” Even in this state I.N. still joked around.

     “Out of all the things I’ve been called in life ‘sexy demon seducer’ has got to be the most…special of titles.”

     “Well he wasn’t wrong.” Changbin interjected.

     “Fuck off.” Seungmin was greatly annoyed by Changbin’s not-so-subtle flirting with Hyunjin. If unification meant that stuff like that would be happening, then there might be one less Witch to unify with by the end of it.

     “Alright, alright, no need to get so defensive over your man.” Changbin’s lighthearted tone died done a bit. “Anyways, our King really is dead, Chan’s putting a unification plan into action, and we already have confirmation from Minho that he’ll join in and along with him is Han. All that’s left is you all. What will it be? Of course your words won’t be the final action needed. We’ll have to have some great meeting probably publicized by having a livestream of us signing a doctrine stating that the Kingdoms are all going to combine together and such, but I need your words to get there. That is, if you’re willing to.”

     “What if we say no?” Woojin asked.

     “I’d be disappointed and would have to plead with you till you said yes. Or I’d just give up and it’d be Grratude and Jigoku v.s. Samataria . I don’t want to know how that’d end up, but I have an inclination that’d it would be you all that would have a ‘bad time’.” Woojin pulled everyone over to the side and deliberated with them for a moment. Everyone was quite cleanly on board except Seungmin which made perfect sense, but if Minho of all people agreed to this, then Seungmin would cave in and do so too. After a longer than planned discussion, they made the obvious decision.

     “We’re in.”

     A smile appeared on Changbin’s face. Time to relay the news back to Chan and continue on...

Towards a Brighter Dawn


	12. Connected

 

\-----Jigoku Witch Palace: Minho’s Balcony-----

     Minho stood leaning on the rail of his balcony. His eyes were entrapped by the colors of the sunrise. Something was different about it this morning. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Han come out onto the balcony. He stood right beside him.

     “Do something fun with me.” Han said.

     “What?”

     “Do something fun with me. This has been so boring. You haven’t been much fun at all. I wanna do something fun.”

     “What’s with you?” Minho was shocked with what he was hearing. With the state things have been in since he captured Han, fun just wasn’t something to be had. Han pouted at those words.

     “Ahh, never mind I knew you’d still act like that to me. What’s with you is a better question. I’ve been here for weeks yet…it seems like it’s still the first day. You still stay by yourself all the time. You still talk to Eric more than me. What the heck is it? You brought me here…but why? Why won’t you be around me, Minho? Don’t I mean something to you?”

     Minho let out a deep sigh. What Han had said was true. Minho had stayed on the observative side even though Han was right here. He hasn’t really opened up to Han. “I’m sorry.”

     “What’s in your head Minho? Tell me. Tell me.” Han stared at him with his pout; an expression that blended sadness and cuteness together so intricately. A moment of silence passed. There had to be a question Han could ask to get Minho to talk some.  “Okay… well, how does that sunrise make you feel?” Minho stayed staring at it. His eyes locked on it. The burning blazes the colors mimicked were reflected in his eyes. 

     “Hopeful. Now lets go inside. It’s cold out here.” Han stayed standing there unwilling to follow Minho back inside. Minho took a few steps forward and looked back at him. He reached and grabbed Han’s wrist pulling him with him. Han mumbled something under his breath that Minho couldn’t quite make out, but it sounded as though he was pleased with this. They went into Minho’s bed room and Minho let go on Han’s wrist. He simply stood in front of him.

     “Of course you mean something to me, Jisung. You’ve meant something to me for a long time.”

     “What is that something? That’s such a boring way to put it.” Han interjected.

     “Jisung…why are you pestering me about this? Why are you acting like this today? Are you sure you’re fully healed from that battle. You don’t seem like yourself.”

     “I don’t seem like myself? You haven’t talked with me enough to know what ‘myself’ is!”

     “Jisung…” Minho pulled him into a hug. “I…I know my words are boring to you, but please understand that I…” He wrapped his arms around Han tighter. “I do love you.” Minho started to cry.

     Han smiled. _I did it._

     “You should be the one I’m around the most. The one that I’m most open with. Yet, I’ve treated you colder than anyone else.. I don’t get what’s with me. I’ve wanted you for so long. Why can’t I express that now? Why haven’t I been able to show you the care and affection that I’ve wanted to?”

    “You’ve been too paranoid with keeping your tough image. Like I’ve said before, all the words you say fit into this construct of the character you’ve made yourself as to people. You don’t have to be that character to me. Not anymore. I’ve seen glimpses of the real you. I know you care about me. I know that you know me. I just wanted to break that wall separating us, that’s all.” Han pulled out of Minho’s tight grip. He interlocked his hands with Minho’s. “Look, when we have that meeting with all the Witches and stuff, I want you to act more like the real you. Not just to me, but to everyone.”

     “You’re the only one that deserves the real me.”

     “No I’m not.”

     “You are. But, I’ll try anyways even though I have to be open with you before I could be with anyone else.” Minho looked off to the side. Something was bothering him heavily. “But…If I tell you this…you’ll hate me.”

     “No…I wouldn’t.” Han was filled with instant worry. There was something Minho wanted to tell him, but he thought that it was so bad that he would hate him. What could that be? “You can tell me. If telling me this will finally clear your conscious of guilt, remorse, or whatever is holding you back from me then you’ve got to say it.” Minho pulled away from Han.

     “I’m a horrible person. I’ve made so many mistakes and what I guess I’ll have to tell you here and now is my biggest one.” The tension in the air was unwavering. The atmosphere had twisted from sentimental to troublesome.  _You really like to put me on a roller-coaster of emotions, now don’t ya Minho?_

     “Just tell me. What is your sin, Minho?”

     “You… You’ve always thought that your parents were the ones that wanted you to be an experiment for Samataria—that they had it planned for you to be captured on your vacation. That is true, but what you don’t know is why they ‘wanted' that. That’s where I come in. My family and yours had been rivals for quite some time. A power struggle between linages of nobles. It didn’t really make sense though. My family should’ve been the obvious winner. They had a son that was actually a Witch while yours didn’t. Yet, it wasn’t like that. My family was always side-shafted even though their stature should’ve been considered higher. Your family used to work quite closely with the King. Yes, the King of Jigoku. Even though they lived in Samataria they had connections with the King here. Their ideas were always considered first. You family had the most money, the most persuasive voice, the most something, something that made them so much more well-liked.

     Honestly it was probably cause of your mom’s ‘persuasive actions’ that actually got them anywhere. I’m pretty sure that’s how it started. The King visited Samataria one day and then a one night stand turned into an everlasting connection. My family was sick of that. Those disgusting ways to get power in a kingdom they didn’t even live in. Of course that included me too. I may have already been in witch training at that point, but I still knew all about what was going on.

     One day I went up to your parents. I told them that I had been in a meeting with the King of Samataria and I told him about their treasonous actions. His first instinct was to execute them. But, this was the time that experiments were running rampant in secrecy, so I suggested to him that he should capture their son, aka you, and have that as payment. He said yes and once he confronted your parents about all of that they were all in and willing to do it. Willing to let you go. Of course they were also banned from leaving Samataria.” Minho paused for a moment waiting to see if Han had anything to say. Han’s expression was plain. It seemed he hadn’t understood the killing point of all that.

     “Jisung…It’s all cause of me that you had to go through so much pain. If it wasn’t for me then you wouldn’t have been through all that. Yeah, your parents would be dead, but you wouldn’t have gone through years of torture and then having to live as a man on the run getting into fights with the most dangerous beings on Earth. Then only to be stalked and captured by the very person that got you into this mess in the first place. I feel so horrible knowing that what I said changed your entire future and made you go through something you should’ve never had been through. It’s all my fault.”

     “Minho…” Han’s expression wasn’t angry as Minho had expected. “I think this would’ve happened to me regardless whether or not you would’ve said anything. It would’ve made sense for my power hungry parents to do this to me anyways.”

     “But there’s a chance it wouldn’t have went like that. That they wouldn’t have wanted that for you.”

     “That chance would’ve been insignificantly small. If they didn’t want that for me then they would’ve done whatever they could to protect me from the government. Instead, they willingly let me be captured.”

     “But Jisung…” The tears were back. It was stab to Han’s heart to see Minho start crying again. He went over to hug him, but Minho pushed him away. “No! I don’t deserve you to be kind to me. I ruined your life, your future, your everything! It was all because of me!” Han grabbed Minho and pulled him into his tight embrace. Minho tried to push him away again, but Han’s grip was too tight for even the so-called ‘most powerful Witch’ to get out of.

     “No you didn’t. I’m certain of it. I know they would’ve done this to me anyways. It made sense for them to. At this point the past is the past. I forgive you. You were being trained that hurting and manipulating others was the right thing to do. Here, you’ve given me the chance to run away from this place from the very beginning, but I never did. I’ve stayed her through all of this. I’m drawn to you, your cold core, your ferocious flames, the dismal dawn that your entrapped in—all of it. I’m not going to leave you now. You need me now the most. **_I_** need you now the most.”

     “How—how can you be like this after all you’ve been through?” Han loosened his grip on Minho and pulled back so he could look him in the eyes.

     “Because it’s you. Because you’ve showed me that you’re not the person you used to be. You’ve done all you could to protect me while I’ve been here. How could I throw all that away just because of one sentence you said years ago? I genuinely don’t think that your words were the sole cause of me going through all that. It’s okay.” Han wiped the tears off of Minho’s face. Silence whimsically flooded through the moment as the two stared into each other’s eyes. Minho pulled Jisung closer to him. He leaned down slightly to meet with Han’s short stature and kissed him.

      Han buried his face in Minho’s chest. “I won’t leave you. I promise.”

 

 

\-----Grratrude: Felix’s Room-----

     “We did it. We really did it.” Chan said as he sat at the desk while Changbin and Felix were lying in bed together. “All thanks to Changbin’s flirtatiousness. It has won them all over.”

     “No it has not! I’m not even like that!”

     “I know about all those smiles and glances you’ve exchanged with Hyunjin. Before too long he’s gonna become a friend with benefits to ya, now isn’t he?”

     “No way! I have top notch loyalty right here. Felix is the only one for me.” He wrapped his arm around Felix and pulled themselves closer. Them two were always close together. An arm around the shoulder, holding hands, smiling glances, arms around the waist—it was always some kind of public display of affection they were doing.

     “Top notch loyalty. Hahaha, yeah you keep tellin’ yourself that. In all seriousness though, we have successfully been able to unite everyone unofficially with tomorrow being the official day. The documents will be signed and we’ll all have to work together from now on. Some will think of it as bitter-sweet or completely bitter, but I will think of it as relieving…as long as everything goes according to plan. I’ll be in a state of restlessness till then.”

     “You need to hook up with someone.” Felix said with his state-of-the-art ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) face. Chan rolled his eyes. “Ooh come on, it’s _soooo_ obvious you need someone. Pull yourself together and get into the dating scene. There are some Witches available. Who knows maybe you could rekindle some flames with Minho if ya know what I mean.” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

     “Complete no. Literal no. It’s a no. That doesn't even relate to what I was talking about." He looked right into Felix's prying eyes for a moment. "Look, maybe one day when all this crap gets settled down I’ll try and find _The One_ ™, but it’s not today or tomorrow that’s for sure.”

     “Yeah you keep telling yourself that.” Felix said in a mocking way.

     “You’re rubbing off on him way too much Changbin…”

     “Maybe if you had a boyfriend then you could rub off on him, but cha don’t.” Changbin sassily snapped back. Felix pinched Changbin’s cheek. Of course he wanted him to settle down before this escalated, but he also wanted him to pay more attention to him as though lying in bed together with his arm wrapped around Changbin wasn’t enough. Neediness was a common thing with Felix. Although Felix knows Changbin would never leave him, hearing about him flirting with other guys makes him feel a bit insecure about their relationship. It makes him wonder if he’s not good enough for Changbin and if the reason why he’s so flirtatious with others is to see if they have what he doesn’t.

     Changbin sensed the needy aura coming from Felix, so he gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Chan rolled his eyes once again. They always seemed to be extra affectionate with each other when he was around. He was never jealous of it though. He wasn’t that kind of person. He simply took it for what it was: two guys that love each other. The right guy for him would come his way one day and he left his thoughts at that.

     Chan continued on. “Now, what about the Witches of Samataria? They’re gonna be safe till the official unification right? Ya never did tell us about what you did to keep them safe after you did the ‘Oh-so-glorious’ work of saving them, Changbin.” 

     “I got a buddy of mine—”

     “A side hoe.”

     “No! He’s a buddy of mine—a friend—”

     “Side hoe. Most definitely a side hoe.”

     “You’re a side hoe at this point…” A devilish glare was shot his way by Chan. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.  Anyways, my FRIEND is there to guard them. He’s super powerful. The average person would consider him a Witch. Plus he’s got me on speed dial, so hey if the world is about to end I’ll be able to know nice and fast.” His signature wink followed after such a statement. 

     “Okay we’ll all just hope that your side hoe—I mean **friend** is a decent person.” Disappointment was evident in Chan’s voice.

     “Don’t talk to me in that tone. You know I have the best connections around. Of course this guy will do fine at keeping them safe.”

     “I’ll give you that one. I’ll never understand how you know so many…interesting people. Like, yeah I know a lot of people, but the people I know are pretty regular, your average Joe type. But then there’s you…just about every other guy you talk with is some kind of satanic assassin or someone who claims to be from the tenth dimension or something.”

     “That may be partially—”

     “Don’t even try lying, Binnie, even I know that one is true.” Felix interjected.

     “Okay, look, this guy’s not one of those kind alright.”

     “Well, we’ll see how those Witches are doing tomorrow to see if Changbin’s non-weirdo ‘friends’ are worth a damn. But then there’s Minho…and Han.” The three each take a deep sigh.

     “They’re honestly a terrifying duo.” Felix said.

     “Yeah I’d agree with that.” Chan continued on. “I have a feeling they’ll be different from what we expect though. Approach them with an open mind. Han, himself, isn’t that bad of a person as far as I know. Hopefully he’s changed Minho from his old ways or at least is trying to. I don’t see him as the kind to fall prey to Minho’s manipulations. Then again, I never saw him as the kind to hang around Minho for so long. It’s interesting to see how his initial goal was to kill all us Witches or do something like that and now he’s going to be working with us as one. What a colorful card he is.”

     “Eric told me that Han has a nice sense of humor. He said that he thinks deep down Han actually has a bright and bubbly personality.”

     “That’d be refreshing. Really just all of us being able to act like our true selves will be refreshing. No more Kings do dictate how we act and what we say. We can be ourselves.” Chan smiled.

     “Ya know, when we all unite…where are we going to live? Ideally since this is a unification we should live in the same palace, but what palace would that be? Where would be the best place to stay?” Felix asked.

     “That’s a great question Felix. I, the incredible Bang Chan, has planned ahead for this scenario. Back many months ago I commissioned for a palace to built in the middle territory between all the Kingdoms. No one wanted that territory due to being in the middle of three Kingdoms that were at war with each other. Since that territory has been left unclaimed for so long I thought I might as well get something built there. See, even back then I had hoped maybe one day unification would happen. I didn’t think it’d be so soon, but I’m glad this opportunity happened and that we were able to get this result from it.”

     “It’s gonna be so different. Moving out of this place. It’s been our home for so long…”

     “The new palace is spectacular. It’s a combination of all the different palaces styles. I had initially thought to have the place divided into three sections that mimicked the Witches’ quarters in each of the Kingdom palaces, but then I thought that, that would keep us too divided and stuck in our old ways.”

     “Ahh, that makes sense. I’m excited to see just what it’ll be like. It has a nice view right?”

     “Of course. The sunrise and sunset are fully visible from start to finish at that place.”  

     “Just what I like.” Felix looked over at Changbin and smiled. The two enjoyed watching the sunrise and sunset together. It was a peaceful, relaxing time they spent together almost every day. A moment that was theirs and theirs alone.  

 

 

\-----Samataria Witch Palace: The Room™-----

     After the unfortunate experience in the Dungeon, the four of them were escorted by Changbin and his buddy to one of the secret rooms within the Witch palace. Hidden within the walls with no cameras and microphones to see and hear them. It was a relieving place to be since Changbin’s buddy was down the hall as a guard. Of course he couldn’t just stand in front of the secret entrance cause that would give away their location. Changbin had all of the cameras be turned off when he was escorting them in there. Not a single official knew their exact location.

     There was only one thing Seungmin had done since leaving the dungeon: Being with Hyunjin. As cliché of a thing that was, clinging onto him was really the only thing he had motivation to do. Although his wounds were the worst, he had been able to recover quite quickly due to being around Hyunjin. There was a scientific law that applied to all Witches: When a Witch is injured and is present around other Witches, the healing process for the injured one is much faster than it would be normally. This could also be applied when a Witch is present around an injured human in the case of Minho and Han.

     Seungmin kept Hyunjin right by his side. The other two saw it as pretty cute really. I.N. had teased Seungmin about it some. Despite the circumstances, the atmosphere was lighter. The dawn, itself, seemed brighter. The strength that dwelled within them was mightier.

     The Room™ they were in was actually more than just a small bedroom. It had a mini kitchen, a bathroom, a compact mini dorm area and a narrow corridor that led to the outside. How has such a decently sized room stay unnoticed by officials? Literally no one knows, but it could be concluded that they’re all pretty dumb in the aspect of analyzing things. They are used to being given exact orders from the King and having the answers given to them. Although, it’s also unknown whether or not the King knew about The Room™ due to the palace not being built under his rule, but instead a couple generations beforehand.

     It wouldn’t be long till they had to leave such an abode. The meeting for the unification was the next day. Liberation from all that controlled them would emerge. They were glad. They were oh-so glad.

     Yet their conversations didn't start off with talks about that, but instead their conversation started off with talks about Christmas. One that would be full of strangers. Sure, it may be a few weeks off, but would they really get to bond during that time? Conflicts could certainly arise during such a period. Woojin and I.N. took a more optimistic approach to it all. They seemed to be on the same side most of the time. Then, there was Seungmin and Hyunjin. At this point, Seungmin didn’t care while Hyunjin stayed on the cautious side. Even though he had his connection with Changbin, Hyunjin was weary on how the other Grratrude Witches would react to him—especially Changbin’s boyfriend. Such different personalities were going to be forced to associate themselves with one another. “Lets hope for the best” was the general consensus they came to. A fantasy land of them all being happy around one another was dreamed up. Sitting around the fireplace where the couples each cuddled up together and the single pringles grouped together all watching a movie while the snow fell outside.

     They progressed into making predictions on how each of the Witches would be. Changbin: The edgy one that has some weird soft spot. Felix: The sunshine boy with an edgy twist. Chan: The guy that looks like a vampire and most likely is one and is gonna kill them all. Not. Minho: He’s just Minho. And finally Han: The guy who’s been almost killed by all of them and will probably be sour about that for a long time. 

     As the day continued on, they progressed through topic after topic. All of them somehow relating to the future and what it may hold for them and for everyone. A silent rejoice could be felt.  

     After such a day of discussion, there was one concept they all hoped to have applied to them: Peace. No more fighting. No more torture. They just wanted everyone to get along despite the past. The past was what made them who they were, but the past didn’t have to keep them that way. Change was inevitable. It was just what was wanted. Not only by the Witches of Samataria, but by the others too. They were already united with this ideal. Whether they had made the connection or not, it was there.

And it would never leave them.


	13. Passion Burns Brightest

\-----Meeting Before The Meeting-----

     A ballroom was where all nine of them gathered for their first meeting. The freshly built scent was evident. Eric and Changbin’s buddy were present too. The two were talking together as though they knew each other. A few other of the high ranking nobles were there too. They had to have some sort of staff to take care of such a giant place. It was almost as big as two palaces combined.

     Surprisingly, the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward as it could have been. At least until Minho and Han showed up—fashionably late. Before then the Witches Samataria and Grratrude were getting decently acquainted with one another. It was to no shocker to them that they would get along decently from the get go. With Changbin’s connections with Hyunjin, the ice was already broken. Of course the Grratrude trio loved cooing over I.N. the youngest one of all them. They found his foxy eyes adorable. Seungmin teased him to no end for him being the youngest.

    “Ya know, you have to bow down to **all** eight of us, right?”

     “Well hello _second youngest_ , you have to bow down to seven of them too.”

     “Blehhh! That’s still one less than you!” It seemed Seungmin’s teasing efforts were backfiring on him causing the rest to laugh. Over to the side Changbin was ~~hitting up~~ talking with Hyunjin as Felix stood off to the side pretending to be occupied with talking to Woojin. He asked the latter to keep an eye on Hyunjin for “suspicious behavior.” Woojin seemed like a trustworthy person from first interaction, but he also had a strong aura to him. _Definitely someone I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with,_ Felix thought. Afterwards, he went over to Changbin and threw his arms over his shoulders. Hyunjin made a comment on the interesting dynamic Felix and Changbin had being Witches of opposite elements and also stated how they looked cute together which helped put Felix’s heart at ease. _Maybe he isn’t going to steal my boyfriend after all._

     This lighthearted atmosphere changed sharply once Minho and Han opened the doors and entered. The two stood side by side as everyone looked over at them. Minho quickly grabbed hold of Han’s wrist causing Han to smile with embarrassment. It seemed as though he would break the silence with a joke or something of that caliber, but instead it was Minho who did so.

     “Oh my! Our beauty just seems to be too stunning for them. How about we leave right now~” Han simply turned his head and looked at Minho who was staring blankly at the crowd. Minho turned his head back to Han and Han looked out to the crowd with the “this, this right here, is what I’ve been stuck with” face and sighed.

     “Now look, this could’ve been a hell of a lot worse. It took a lot to just get him here, alright.” The rest shook their head in agreement and went on with their conversations except Chan who came over to them.

     “It’s been a while hasn’t it, Minho?”

     “You were one of the main reasons I didn’t want to do this.”

     “Ahaha, I figured that’d be the case. Any cruel words ya wanna tell me. This really is your last chance for it cause after the official unification meeting I’d hope we could really be over what happened in the past.”

     “So you forgive me?”

     “Of course I do. This wouldn’t be happening if I didn’t. Don’t you realize it was me who initiated all this?"

     “Yeah, I get it. I’ll forever have bitterness towards you though. You kn… you _knew_ me. Little things bug me for a while. Everything is a part of the snowball effect in my world. One thing after another.”

     “But you have Han now.”

     “…” His hold on Han’s wrist got tighter. Han wondered how soon the day his wrist would break from Minho’s ever tightening grip would be. “Thankfully…I probably would’ve driven myself insane if it weren’t for him.”

     “Actually, you were already half insane at the time you captured me.”

     “No I wasn’t.”

     “If you were just one day late then you would have been cause then I would’ve been under Chan’s wing.”

     “Ahh I remember that day when Changbin, Felix and I went to raid that shed and here you weren’t there. Ugh, I was so frustrated. I had everything planned out but then, you just weren’t there. Like wow, how fantastic.”

     “It was for the better.”

     “Well of course you think that Minho.” Chan smiled and eyed down at Minho’s tight grip on Han’s wrist. “We all know he’s yours now.”

     “What if I would’ve been captured by you guys? What would’ve happened?”

     “There are thousands of possibilities honestly. The King could’ve had you tortured, you may have been left under us Witches control in which we would’ve figured out how to utilize your powers or we may have just wanted you to take it easy or maybe you would’ve been used as something to make the other Kingdoms give us what they want with a false promise that we’d give you to them. Ahh, it’s endless. But, whatever would’ve happened there wouldn’t have given you this kind of…result.” He eyed over at Minho. “Plus, I don’t think the opportunity for this whole unification thing would’ve happened if things went like that. Simply put, it was best that went this way.”

     “I see.” Han shook his head and smiled softly.

     “I’ll let you two get a bit more acquainted with everyone else. There’s plenty of us around…even though I know you, Minho, have at least one problem with each of us.”

     “Well that’s what happens when you’re at war for decades.”

     “War for decades, huh?” Seungmin injected as he walked over with Hyunjin. “Well ya see I don’t mind getting—"

     “Seungmin no, what have I told you??? Ahhhh” Hyunjin threw his arms around Seungmin and pouted. “He’s been wanting to enact violence a lot today.

     “I gotta see where everyone’s at. Ya know, figure out how they’re feeling about this.”

     “That’s not how you do it…”

     “Now actually, war is such a—” Han put his hand over Minho’s mouth.

     “Not you too.”

      Chan smiled as this was pretty amusing. Hot head-red head and cold blooded-cold hearted meet with the common interest of hurting others. And here both of them have a boyfriend that pleas for them to stop. The parallels—just another one here that made them connected before they realized it themselves. Chan saw it though. An observant fellow he was. He walked away and left them to their shenanigans. It was almost time for the real meeting to start.

\-----Official Meeting: Broadcast Room-----

     The nine sat around an elliptical table. Chan sat as the head at the point at one side and Minho was the head at the other. Chan knew Minho would sit there. A rivalry forever. Minho stared at him with his daunting, crystal clear eyes. Chan simply smiled at him. The cameras would be turned on any moment to broadcast this throughout all the Kingdoms. No need for the first sight the public sees be a fight. Fake it till you make it—if only Minho could understand such logic. But, he’s the kind to just “make it.” There would be no making a fight here though. At least not for however long the broadcast would last.

     There were cameras that covered each section of Witches. When the broadcast starts it would show it as a split screen displaying each section. The papers were laid out on the table. The details were set cleaner than a King’s dinning table.

     Eric snapped his fingers to get everyone’s attention and pointed to a camera. 3-2-1 he motioned with his fingers. The broadcast started. They waited just a moment for the signal to be distributed across the land.

     “Hello, the people of all great lands,” Chan started off.  “We understand your grief from the recent tragedies. We understand your worry for each of your countries future—the worry for your own future. Let that not trouble your minds further. The resolution to such troubles shall be finalized today. A decision taking decades of a perfect, unfaltering cascade of events—something that couldn’t have happened any other way: Unification of the Kingdoms. Here with me are the Witches of the other Kingdoms along with the so-called Ultimate Weapon: Han as for he has joined with us in this critical moment. Delicate like a feather; it could be blown away right from our hands any moment. One wrong move would change the fate for us all.” His eyes flashed from looking at the camera to Minho for a second. “This unification will ensure the safety of you, the people. Each one of you is of upmost importance to us. Corruption shall be abolished from this government system; the people’s opinion shall forever be considered first before any decisions are made. You could think of it as each of us are representatives for the areas we come from as for we shall never leave our homeland behind. We will never forget our services during our divided time. Now, this change will be in the best interest of all rather than just us. Trust me, if we were doing what was in the best interest for ourselves then we certainly wouldn’t be here. It would be war. But, after careful consideration of the benefits to the rest of society, we have decided to come together in an enteral promise. A promise between each of us and to the people.” Chan held up the document that detailed the unification. “This document here once signed will keep us bound to such a promise. I, Bang Chan of Grratrude; the Witch of Elements, shall be the first to sign to promise for a unified state of tranquility and prosperity for all.” He passed the document off to his right.

     Each Witch said their name and pledged to sign to “promise for a unified state of tranquility and prosperity for all.” Grratrude Witched signed first, then the Samataria four, then it was down to Han and Minho.

     Han hesitated for just a moment. Thoughts raced through his mind. Uncertainties, what ifs, what woulds were all appearing. His eyes met with Chan’s for just a moment as he looked up. A window to Chan’s soul was certainly open in that moment. A true plea there was. _Please, please do this for us—for the greater good of all._ His hesitation left him in that moment and said the pledge and signed. He passed it over to Minho who was the last one who needed to sign it.

     His icy eyes stared at it. He truly was thinking of not signing. Even after all Han had talked with him about this, he still wanted to refute it, to push it away, to destroy it. All his life, unity was a nonexistent thing. It was a piece that was never there. The puzzles he had never needed that piece in order to be solved completely—why did this one need it? It was a logical question to him. Han knew such thoughts were flowing in Minho’s mind. He put his hand on Minho’s thigh to ease the tension. His eyes met with Minho’s ever locking gaze. Minho shook his head slightly. He stood up as the others did before him and said the pledge and then signed the document. Chan sighed in relief.

     “With that, the unification is finalized and is in effect from now and forever.” Chan looked away from the camera to the Witches he was surrounded by. “I thank each one of you for your willingness to join me in this. Let great memories of being together flourish.” He looked back at the cameras. “Thank you, the people, most of all for your strong endure during the rough years. Peace is upon us. Let prosperity for each of you flourish. A new era has begun.” With that, all nine of them stood up and bowed. The broadcast ended.

     “Goddamit Minho you literally gave us all heart attacks.” Seungmin, of course, being the first to speak.

     “If you can’t take such tension then maybe we should eliminate you.” Minho smiled mischievously. It was an expression they hadn’t seen from him before.     

     “Ya know what, I’d eliminate myself before I’d let you or anyone else do it.”

     “Not even me” Hyunjin threw his arm around Seungmin.

     “Or what about me~” I.N. threw his arm around Seungmin.

     “… I’m done already. If this is the kinda crap imma have to go through… it’s gonna be a long long…eternity” The rest followed with a laugh—one of the first wholehearted laughs ever exchanged between them all.

 

\-----Forward-----

     The Witches had opened up to each other quite a bit within a few months. From cutthroat enemies to brothers. They all had a bond with each other at this point. Although Minho had his distant times, he too had become an eccentric part of the group. He let the wall between him and Chan be reduced to rubble. Now, Chan, Woojin and him were seen as the leader line of them all. Han could technically have been included in that line as well due to always being with Minho. Even when Chan and Woojin just want to have a conversation with Minho, Han was always there. Minho wanted it like that and Han…well he did it to make Minho happy and to get on the other’s nerves. He enjoyed being the mischievous one of the group. Sneaky and cunning, but out of playfulness rather than hatred. Felix commonly joined him in his antics as the former loved pulling pranks on Changbin. Then Seungmin would join in to pull pranks on Hyunjin.  

     Chan and Woojin grew especially close to one another. They found serenity in their shared calm nature. The thing was, Chan had quite a wild side to him as well, but he was also kinda edgy too as expected from someone from Grratrude. Felix shared the same kind of traits. Changbin…he was just all edgy—all dark. But, his dear Felix always brought him the light he needed. Their bond grew constantly. Cuddles every day, every night.

     Thankfully now the sad nights of overworking to the point of breaking the soul were over. No more crying to sleep…at least not in that way. The only crying now was sentimental in remembrance of the old, out of love or something else of the like. Han was a sucker for the whole sentimental feeling. Minho had figured that out quite well now since Han only ever cries around him. They’ll lay in bed together and suddenly he’ll look over and see a few tears stream form Han’s eyes. A clear, sky blue his eyes were during those moments. Minho would pull Han into his arms and let his head rest on his chest. Minho was the taller of the two so big spoon he was. He liked it like that. Being able to hold Han close to him like that brought him happiness. The affection the two gave each other on an everyday basis was immense.

    Speaking of affection givers, Seungmin and Hyunjin were the definition of it at least on terms of giving it to each other. The only one that really spread equal affection to everyone was I.N. and he received equal affection back cause there was just no way to ignore such a pure, playful-hearted soul he had. Seungmin’s hot head nature never changed. He always had his snarky side comments to make. It was who he was and by now everyone got a kick out of the stuff he said. Most of the time, it was a mood for them all. Hyunjin stayed in his ways of buying Seungmin the stupid crap he always wants. He was the kind that if you pointed out something that you liked but never got the chance to buy it, a few days later that very thing would be waiting for you as a present from him. An endearing fellow Hyunjin was; always ready for cuddling…with anyone. He couldn’t lie at this point. He had cuddled with literally everyone at least twice except Minho and Han who no one could ever get their hands on. Sure, it made Seungmin jealous that his boyfriend was out cuddling with other guys, but they had grown so close to each other that it didn’t bother him all that much anymore. It was something to make inside jokes about rather than be angry.

     The nine didn’t get into arguments with each other frequently. Sure there would be a few here and there, but that’s what ya get when you have nine guys living together. No hard feelings were left afterwards. It was just another thing to make a joke about.

     On terms of how the rest of society was doing, there was much improvement. At festivals in which the nine could talk directly to the people, there was a lot of positive feedback to them all. The public was ever accepting of this new government. Policies that were passed always followed what the public would like within reason. A prosperous society grew with and expanding job market and flourishing businesses.

     All of it could really be summed up in one sentence: Everyone was happy. Although, it was a cliché way to put it, it was the truth. An improvement was made on each and every person’s quality of life. A brighter future was bestowed upon them all.

 

\-----

 

\-----Minho’s Balcony-----

          Minho and Han stood next to each other on the balcony watching the sunrise. It had been a few months since unification day and every day since then they have watched the sunrise together. A time of subtle intimacy between the two. The vivid colors of the sunrise devoured their eyes and went for their hearts allowing it to be coated with the colors of love, passion and happiness.

      “The dawn burns brighter than the day.” Minho said breaking them from the daze of the sun’s rising haze.

     “What?” 

     “It’s a saying.”

     “I’ve never heard of it.”

     “Well, it means many things really. Of course you could take it literally. But, figurative language is always more interesting. For that, it means…” Minho turned his head to Han. He smiled and leaned down and kissed him passionately.   

     “T-that was physical, Minho…” Han’s cheeks turned as bright as the sunrise itself.

     “Oops, my bad~” Playfulness was strung in his words. “ As for what I was saying, it means the passion inside you is unleashed during dawn and as the day goes on it diminishes hence the dawn is when your passion burns brightest. Passion is like a phoenix. Once it dies, it is reborn. That’s what happens every dawn.”

     “T-that made a lot more sense then I thought it would.” Han was still flustered from Minho’s -passionate- kiss.

     “I just made it up. It’s not a real saying.”

     “It is now.” Their eyes met with one another’s once again. This time Han was the one to pull Minho in for a kiss. “I deem it to be true.”

     “Just like my love for you.”

     “…”

     “Minho, I love you.” There was no use in fighting the cheesiness of Minho’s words. Han always took them in a sentimental, romantic way in the end. The two looked back to the sunrise. It was just about over. The bright colors that once were had faded into blue. The two looked back at each other. 

 “The dawn really does burn brighter than the day, doesn't it, Jisung?”

“It does, Minho. It really does.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH I've done it. After starting this in fricken July, I finally completed it. I wish I could've gotten this done much sooner, but school has been a super killer with so much homework. Thank you all so much for spending your time reading this story, thank you for your kudos, and thank you so so much for your kind comments! They've been super motivating! I'm actually kinda tempted to write an alternative ending to see how things would've went if the story took a darker path, but who knows maybe one day~  
> Once again I sincerely appreciate you all for reading this!  
> P.S. If you haven't already, check out my other completed fanfiction: At the Steps of the Sunset


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